Shrewd Choices
by Bookworm Gal
Summary: After Hexxus's defeat, life seems rather peaceful in Fern Gully. But the past has a way of catching up with you, regardless of how far you fly or where you hide. He escaped once from humans and his nightmarish life at their hands, but what'll happen when they reappear in his life?
1. Racing fairies

**There is no logical reason for me to start yet another story. I just finished off a couple of them, but I don't have the spare time for this. I really don't. Even stranger is why I would decide to write for this particular fandom. I mean, I liked the first movie (mostly because of a certain bat). But I wasn't too impressed by the sequel (and it will be ignored) and I know there is not a huge following for stories in this category. There is no real reason for me to write this. Unfortunately my brain and inspiration are working against me and I end up with this idea taking root.**

**Please keep in mind that this is a complete work of fiction and anything I write about certain topics mentioned in the film will be presented in the same fashion that they were in the movie: exaggerating to fantastic proportions rather than a perfect representation of reality. Specifically, I'm drawing inspiration from a certain rap from the movie and tossing most ideas of the scientific method out the window. Don't take the content of this story as any kind of real demonstration of animal testing or my views on the topic. I'll look up species of animals for the area, but even those will likely have mistakes (even if I'll try harder on that part of the story).**

**I don't own most of the characters, though there will be a few creations from the dark recesses of my mind. If they were in the movie, then I don't have any type of claim on them. Otherwise, they are available to be borrowed by my fellow writers if you ask first.**

**Okay, that should handle all the opening statements. I just warn now that updates will likely be few and far between. Reviews can help convince me to hurry up occasionally, though. **

Shrewd Choices

_His eyesight was going. Probably from those weird drops they tried on him earlier, the ones that burned and still ached even as his surroundings blurred. Not that he had much to look at. Just the metal walls and thin bars of a cage, the room beyond, and the white wire that snaked from the side of his head to some beeping and clicking monstrosity outside of cage. It was something similar to the television set that was sometimes turned on._

_All of them turned on the television as they worked in the bright and strong-scented room with the wall of cages. And he also used to watch it in his lucid (and less lucid) moments, which might explain the strangeness of his odder moments. Or he used to watch it prior to his most recent development. He might be able to still hear it and figure out what was happening on the small flashing screen._

_He tiredly rubbed at his burning eyes with his wing, wishing they would stop hurting so much so he could sleep. It was hard enough trying to rest when the bright lights glared overhead, the stinging scent of antiseptic bit at his nose, and the panicked and pained cries from the other cages' occupants ringing in his ears. Suffering from the newest concoction of chemicals just made the whole thing more difficult. He wanted nothing more than for his eyes to stop burning and to fall asleep._

"_It hurts," a particularly shrill voice from a cage to the left shrieked. "Make it stop. My eyes hurt. Get it out. Please. They burn."_

"_Word of advice," he called tiredly. "Don't try messing with them too much. Clawing your eyes out never helps. I've seen the results repeatedly. Creepy stuff. Kind of like those late night horror movies. The ones with slime pouring out of a building and clumsy girls hurting their ankles. Why they don't take off the high-heels before running, I'll never know."_

"_Who was that?" A young voice, several cages down, asked._

_He remembered the arrival of several newcomers recently, but he couldn't recall the species. So many mammals came through here that it wasn't even worth the effort to try remember anymore. The speaker was clearly one of the fresh specimens. Fear was in his tone, but none of the pain and hopelessness that would eventually taint him could be detected._

_A quiet, strained voice replied, "Just ignore him. Koda went completely batty a long time ago. Stay here long enough and you either die horribly or end up like Batty Koda."_

_He knew that voice. Sandry was a rather calm crest-tailed mulgara he knew was in a cage two spaces over to the right. She was often referred to as looking similar to a "brown rat," but she was a nice enough marsupial. He also knew that, next to himself, she'd been here the longest. Her survival was likely due how they kept assigning her as a control. Not every time, but often enough. She tended to serve as the welcoming party to the future victims._

"_What happened to him?" the newcomer asked from his cage, probably trying to not focus on the implications that he would either die or go insane from this place._

"_Don't know for certain," she replied. "He was already a little strange when I arrived. And those who were still alive and sane also claimed he was batty as long as they could remember. Batty Koda just keeps surviving whatever they do to him."_

_Pulling his wings around himself tighter and closing his sore eyes, he muttered, "What doesn't kill you makes you stranger. And I've survived being electrified, injected with random concoctions, fed poisons of all sorts, and listening to far too many soap operas. They haven't quite managed to kill me yet, but not for a lack of trying."_ _Shuddering slightly, he added, "The vivisection was a little too close for comfort. I can't believe my medical insurance covered that procedure. Probably should look into changing the extent of my coverage."_

_Even over the whimpering of the rest of the room's occupants, he heard the approaching steps. Someone was coming here, the place they always refer to as the biology lab or product testing and he always considered the worst place on the planet. His eyes flew open and he scrambled towards the back of his cage, the wire in his head pulling tightly. His eyesight was blurry, but he could still make out the shape of the door across the room opening and a figure entering. He didn't have to see to know what he was looking at and it terrified him. They were responsible for everything and he was utterly powerless to get away._

_Humans. One of the humans was in the room._

"_Time to check the results so far," the human remarked cheerfully. "Subject seven should be reacting to the product by now."_

_He heard the door of his cage being opened, even as he tried to press himself in to the metal back of the confined space. Whenever they took him out of the cage, there was a strong possibility of something bad happening. His burning, blurry eyes were locked on the vague shape of a hand reaching for the trapped mammal and there wasn't logically anything he could do to stop it. Not that a little thing like logic worked well for him anymore._

"_Puff up, puff up, they hate that," he muttered to himself, trying to appear a little bigger while keeping against the solid metal back of the cage. "I really don't feel like playing mad scientist with you again today."_

_With no regards for his posturing, the human's hand wrapped around him and pulled him out._

* * *

"No," yelped the bat, snapping awake and nearly dropping from his perch.

His eyes glanced around quickly, spotting lots of green vegetation that didn't belong in his previous nightmare of the past. The warm, humid air and the absence of that sharp antiseptic smell helped to further assure the mammal that he was far away from that place. The only remaining evidence he had that his dream was actually a memory instead of the product of his rather unreliable mind would be the wire still sticking out of his head, the scars hidden beneath his fur from a number of procedures, and his mind itself. He was safely dangling upside down off a branch in the middle of a rainforest, not serving as a lab animal for that Shrewd Choices company.

"I need to lay off the snacks before I go to sleep," he muttered, shaking his head slightly.

The bat released his grip of the tree branch and spread his wings as he fell. A few flaps later and he was flying towards his destination. As he neared, there were fewer obstacles to dodge. Hexxus and the humans' machines might not have destroyed everything, but there was still evidence of how close they came to success. It might have been a year and a half since the event (or was it two years?), but time hadn't healed all wounds yet. The trees were shorter, still in the process of re-growing even with all the help they were receiving from the inhabitants of Fern Gully, so there was fewer opportunities for him to crash.

The closer he came to the two trees in the center, one a safe refuge and the second the remains of the Leveler, the more he spotted streaks of green light. Whenever they stopped or slowed down, he could see the winged figures more clearly and even identify specific individuals. They were flitting around the growing plants, dressed in leaves and flower petals. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite seem to find the one he was looking for.

"If I was a little glow bug with a habit of seeking out trouble, where would I be?" he muttered to himself.

His eyes, long since magically-repaired from the damage that left him nearly blind before, finally spotted a thin trail of fresh sprouts and flowers. Ever since trapping Hexxus in his vegetative prison, she tended to do that sort of thing unconsciously. She also picked up a number of new tricks with her power. Unfortunately, he knew she was still somewhat naïve of the world beyond this forest and her curiosity would undoubtedly lead to trouble if he didn't keep an eye on her.

At last, he caught sight of the blue streak of light ahead of him, proving that he was on the right trail. If he had to guess, it looked like she was inspecting a rather wimpy-looking sapling and was trying to see if she should give it a little help or give it a chance to grow on its own. Landing on a large leaf, the glow faded enough for the bat to see her properly as she leaned over the sapling.

Black hair cut short, her outfit apparently crafted from the skin of a piece of red fruit, and her wings translucent as a real bug's, Crysta stretched out her hand towards the plant. Blue-green light streamed from her fingertips, causing the sapling to stretch skywards and the leaves to extend further. Further green shoots appeared along the branches, quickly bursting into even more leaves. The sickly-looking plant overtook the neighboring flora until there was no hint of the previous weakness. From his current angle, he couldn't see the fairy's face clearly, but he knew she was likely smiling with satisfaction as she cut off the flow of magic.

Unfortunately, watching Crysta's efforts resulted in him being distracted from his flight path. He barely noticed one of the remaining larger trees in this particular corner of the rainforest in front of him before he crashed right into it. While the impact was mildly painful, it was a familiar sensation by now. He slid down the bark until he hit the ground and stayed there momentarily as he tried to gather his scattered wits.

"Batty, are you all right?" the fairy asked, flying over towards him.

"Fine. I'm fine," he called, climbing to his feet and turning to face her. "I think that was one of my better landings."

He tried to wave his wing towards the tree he'd hit in order to indicate that it wasn't that bad an impact. Unfortunately, his gesture managed to brush against the twin pieces of metal sticking out of the rubber insulation of the wire and when they touched-

-_Bzzt_-

"And with the addition of the new baby panda, I'm sure that admission to the local zoo will only skyrocket," he stated, reporting the news story faithfully. His co-anchorperson always got the better headlines, but he was a better professional. If he played his cards right, he would be promoted soon from this local station to the big time. "Now, here's Robert with the weather."

"Batty?" a female voice asked in concerned, interrupting his thoughts and pulling his mind out of another hallucination caused by frying his brain.

Shaking his head to clear his head, taking more caution this time not to touch the wires, he assured, "Sorry, I'm fine. Really."

Used to his moments of weirdness, Crysta smiled, "Come to check on me?"

"Maybe partly," he confirmed. "I was also considering finding some breakfast, but I wanted to make sure you aren't trying to fly above the canopy or investigating smoke at a mountain or anything else that could turn into a disaster first."

"Pips and the Beetle Boys are more likely to get into trouble now," she scoffed. "I've been too busy lately. I don't know how Magi Lune managed to do this."

Spotting the small frown at the memory of her lost mentor, the bat tried to cheer up his friend, "Hey, she didn't have to deal with an invasion from a human machine possessed by Hexxus. I'd say you've been doing very well fixing things around here. I didn't get to know her all that much before everything went a little crazy, but I doubt she could do better than you have."

"Thanks, Batty."

"So let's go get a nice fruit salad and you get to take a break from helping the plants grow," he suggested. Then, smiling to himself, he added, "Maybe you can go fly around with Pips later too. You know he would like to spend some time with you."

Taking a step along one of the roots of the larger tree, she stated slowly, "I don't know. I was going to work on the section to the east this afternoon."

"So take the red-headed bug with you. As long as you both don't start another competition at proving who's the most adventurous, that should keep the two of you out of trouble. And keep him from pining after you until you both end up like Romeo and Juliet."

"What?" asked Cryta, clearly confused by the reference.

"Never mind," the mammal responded. "Back to my original suggestion. Breakfast?"

* * *

He stretched out another section of mesh netting between the trees, making sure that the barely-visible trap was properly attached. He'd already set out the ground-based traps and was now working on the devises for the animals who wouldn't be running along the forest floor. None of them were lethal or even harmful of the creatures they caught. He needed his merchandise to be alive and in relatively good health.

While some people might refer to him as a poacher, Martin liked to think he was a business man who simply made use of a less-legal source of commodities. The entire company worked off of the idea of saving money by any means. And if it was a little cheaper to collect specimens without purchasing them from other companies, reusing subjects repeatedly, or fudging the results a little on a few experiments in order to get their products on the market sooner, it only made sense to take advantage of such opportunity. They preferred to viewing legal and safety standards as "guidelines" rather than actual rules, even if they were technically laws.

Rather than paying for untold numbers of lab rats, bred to be nearly identical so that the results of testing should be fairly accurate and having enough for each separate product, the company collected a few wild animals to add to those purchased legally and made use of them for as many experiments as possible. The best use of the scientific method? Perhaps not. The best use of their monetary resources? Yes.

Martin moved onto the next location, carrying his capturing supplies with him. Short brown hair, dark green eyes, and thin build, he was the type of person who faded into the background and no one ever noticed. He was perfectly ordinary. The dark jeans and plain brown shirt helped that perception. If he wasn't standing in the middle of the rainforest, no one would have even looked twice at him. That was why he was ideal for this job.

The mammals would all go to the company, unless they were so high on the endangered species list that he couldn't risk it. That was the deal. Reptiles, birds, and the rarer mammals would go to the black market to vanish forever. The company still received a percentage of those sales, but he had to take care to make sure those funds were untraceable. Either way, each animal profited both him and his employer.

Setting down another of the live traps, Martin began baiting the small box. The metal trap, provided by the corporation, was easy enough to operate. It was pressure sensitive and, once an animal entered to investigate the food, the door would close behind them and keep them captive until he returned. The mesh nets were less reliable, but anything that flew into them would become tangled and trapped like a fly in a spider's web. Both types would have to be checked for captures regularly, but he could manage that.

After all, being their main source of test subjects, Shrewd Choices paid him well for his efforts.

* * *

At the time he initially met the human, Pips hadn't been particularly fond of Zak. That was mostly because he'd been looking everywhere for Crysta at the time and the human had felt the need to embarrass the red-haired fairy by startling everyone with his strange music. Not to mention getting a little too close to her. By the time Zak was returned to normal, he felt a little friendlier towards him. After all, the human did help stop Hexxus and let them keep the "stereo." And the fact he was leaving meant that he didn't have to worry as much about how Crysta felt about him.

Now, he felt that Zak might have been a rather nice guy to have around. At least, he would have been as long as he didn't try spending too much time with the black-haired fairy. His music, while strange, was rather interesting once you grow used to it. Pips and the Beetle Boys had listened to the loud and intriguing sounds from the "stereo" until one day the object stopped producing the music. Batty had claimed that the batteries were probably dead. And, unlike with a dying plant, their magic didn't seem to help fix it. Perhaps the human might have some strange magic that would help these "batteries." Pips, after much consideration, had decided that he missed the music and would have enjoyed having Zak back in Fern Gully if it meant the "stereo" would produce those sounds again. He might even be able to show them more strange human objects.

"Are you sure it isn't just hungry?" asked Root for the hundredth time. That particular Beetle Boy had taken the loss of the music particularly hard and kept looking for a way to bring it back. "Maybe 'stereos' need to eat or sleep and it'll start working again."

Leaning against the trunk of a tree, turning the panpipes over in his hands, the red-haired fairy reminded, "You tried feeding it berries immediately after it stopped. It didn't do anything except make it sticky."

"And I tried hitting it," pointed out Stump.

"We need to admit that the 'stereo' won't work ever again," Knotty declared. "You don't hear Bark complaining," he commented, pointing at their smallest member. "So you should stop too."

All of them were resting along a tree branch not far from where they had moved the object after Zak left. It was far enough to not completely deafen the rest of the fairies, but close enough that they could visit the location often. They still visited the yellow shape regularly out of habit now. It was as good a place as any to be, as some fairies had described them, "bug-brained layabouts" and it was certainly better than some.

Boredly, Pips once again tried to match the music they used to listen to with his panpipes. He could play the melody enough for the tune to be recognizable, but he couldn't match the volume or the timbre of the music. That didn't stop him from trying.

"Well, look at this group of lazy of bug-brains," a familiar female voice commented, surprising the red-haired fairy into nearly dropping his instrument.

Glancing up, he spotted Crysta staring down at him with a mischievous smile. Flying down, she landed on the branch next to him.

"I bet all this goofing off is making your wings a lot slower," she continued.

Recognizing a challenge when he heard one, Pips added, "Just like how out of practice you've probably become since you spend all your time working on the plants less than a few wingspans from home?"

"Would you like a demonstration of how 'out of practice' I am?" she asked, a competitive edge entering her tone.

"Think you can keep up?" he responded, matching her competitiveness with his own.

Before she could answer, there was a small crashing sound above them and Batty almost tumbled out of the air. The mammal managed to catch himself in midair and landed on the branch on the other side of the watching Beetle Boys.

"I meant to do that," the bat stated firmly. "Honest."

"Quiet," Knotty whispered. "We're watching Pips and Crysta planning to race each other."

"First one to stop or get left behind loses?" she suggested, her wings giving an experimental flap.

The redhead grinned, "Works for me. But no going straight up. We're going for distance, not pure height. I don't want you to end up as falcon food."

"I won't," Crysta responded. "But I can still go farther and faster than you."

"Oh joy, let's watch the overly-curious girl and the boy with something to prove to the world try to outdo each other," Batty commented dryly. "How could that lead to a disaster?"

"We're coming too," stated Stump, climbing on his insect. "We don't want to miss this."

"Sure, let's bring the biker gang along for the ride," the mammal continued, his words not making complete sense to the fairy. Pips was rather used to that feeling when dealing with the bat. He wasn't really easy to understand and he only got worse when the strange thing on his head was touched. But he was a nice enough animal. "If we're going to have a competition in crazy stunts, we might have all the irresponsible individuals involved."

"This was your idea," Crysta pointed out cheerfully. "You suggested I have some fun with Pips."

Batty reminded, "I'm out of my mind. Sane people don't take advice from the insane. That's like having the professional golfer asking for tips on the backswing from a basketball player. It doesn't make sense."

While Pips doubted that she understood the odd sentences better than he did, the black-haired fairy smiled at the bat, "If you're so worried, you can follow along with us. You might even have some fun. It'll be fine. You'll see."

"Why," he asked, "do I not believe you?"

* * *

The long-nosed bandicoot scurried across the tree branches as quickly as she could. Her neighboring animals had been vanishing recently, far faster than predators could account for, and she'd finally determined what was making them disappear. She'd spotted the tall creature setting out strange objects that others had gone to investigate, smelling the food inside. They became trapped within and were later carried away by the same tall creature. Unlike some, she'd recognized the species of the invader from stories.

There was a human in the rainforest and he was capturing animals. Not catching and eating, which was simply a part of life and one any animal must face the possibility of. He was taking them away somewhere. Regardless, she didn't intend to find out where. She was heading for safer areas. While a reasonable distance away from her usual territory, the bandicoot knew that fairies dwelled deeper into the rainforest at a location called Fern Gully. If she could reach that place, perhaps the guardians of the forest could prevent her capture. At least if a predator caught her, she knew what would occur. The unknown fate that the human would bring scared her far more.

**Okay, I really like comic-relief characters in a story, like Mushu in "Mulan" or Genie in "Aladdin" or Timon and Pumbaa in "The Lion King." They are the ones that, next to the hero of the tale, tend to capture my attention. Hence, I like Batty Koda. But I also like giving those types of characters a closer look and possibly exploring their past so that they are more than just comic relief. And Batty definitely has plenty to explore. Like his time in that lab or how his "channel changing" moments would be seen from his viewpoint or any number of possibilities. **

**And since it makes no logical sense for one test animal to undergo all the different procedures described in Batty's rap in the movie since such actions would make the results of the experiments less reliable, I decided to incorporate that disregard of the scientific method into the story. The practices of the company in my story, Shrewd Choices, are not an accurate representation of how a normal group would set up any type of product testing. And that's the point. They don't care if they have to tweak the results or that they might not be getting accurate data by their actions. This is the ultimate untrustworthy business with the worst corrupt executives. Rather than buying lots of rats to cover every product and aspect being tested, they would catch a few animals and essentially "recycle" them for several experiments until they have to use a new one. Which means their products are not necessarily safe. Adding in a little bit of profit from black market sales only makes things worse. Basically, anyone with any power who found proof about how they are operating could shut down the whole company.**

**In case you didn't guess, sections in italics tend to be flashbacks or dreams. Any questions you have are welcomed, as are comments. I try to make things comprehensible, but I am only human. I'll always be happy to clarify things. I hope you enjoy things so far and, even if I don't know when the next update will be, I hope you'll like what I have planned in the future.**


	2. Traps

**I enjoy the feedback so far on my story. It made me smile to find out that at least a couple of people are interested in what I'm writing for the rather small fandom. All I can hope is that I live up to your expectations. And keep in mind that updates will be rather… unpredictable. But don't give up, no matter how long the wait. It should be worth it.**

To anyone watching the race would only see a twin set of lights, one blue and one green, streaking through the rainforest. They wove in and out of roots, weaving around larger leaves, and zipping past brightly colored flowers. Each time one of the glowing shapes pulled ahead, the second light sped up further. The loud and unruly shouts from the Beetle Boys proved that, even if they weren't quite as fast as the racing fairies, they weren't going to let Crysta and Pips have all the fun. Farther back and far quieter, Batty followed the glowing set of lights while focusing more on not hitting a tree than speed. Crysta didn't think that the mammal would lose track of them, even if he fell behind and couldn't see them anymore. She was laughing too hard and loudly for that. She hadn't had this much fun in quite some time.

Diving below another large leaf, the fairy couldn't help wondering how far they would go. She'd already raced farther than she could ever remember going before. Certainly farther away than where she met Zak prior to shrinking him. But as long as Pips kept flying, she intended to keep going. Ever since they were children, they were rather competitive against each other. And even as they grew up and many details of their relationship and lives changed, that competitiveness remained. Trying to outdo one another was just what they did.

But finding the time to spend with her friends was far harder now. With Magi Lune gone, Crysta had the most powerful magic and that was a lot of responsibility while the trying to repair all the damage to the forest. Far more responsibility than she'd ever expected or dreamed of. There was still so much to do. Still, the occasional opportunity to have fun wasn't too much to ask for. And she was going to enjoy it as much as possible.

"Think you're getting slow," laughed Pips as he pulled slightly ahead of her.

Pushing for a little more speed, she called back, "If you think that, then you're definitely going to lose."

Stump chuckled, "I think she's going to win this."

"You're supposed to be on my side," complained the red-haired fairy.

"Not if you're about to lose," Knotty stated. "And she's pulling ahead of you again."

Crysta laughed again as she slipped between a pair of trees growing close together, dove below a few mushrooms, and even streaked by a rather bright pink flower fast enough to leave the petals shaking gently. Part of the race, one that they never actually mention and yet always include regardless, was also to be more impressive with the flight path. The closer to obstacles they came or the more they weaved in and out of tight spaces, the better. She was getting mildly out of breath by this point due to the distance covered and the weaving, but she wasn't quite ready to give up and let Pips win.

As she and the red-haired fairy slipped through a tiny gap in a rotten log, a strange voice abruptly called, "Wait!"

Reacting instantly to the cry, Crysta halted in midair. As the blue glow around her faded, she spotted the small creature crouching on the far side of the log. Her long nose was turned towards the fairy, twitching slightly. The bandicoot tilted her head as she looked at her.

"You're a fairy, aren't you?" the small mammal asked carefully.

"Yes, I am," Crysta acknowledged.

By this point, the Beetle Boys had paused their insects in midair and were staring down at the animal interrupting the race. Root was already muttering darkly about his entertainment being stopped like this and wondering if that meant that Pips won.

"And this is the way to Fern Gully, right?" the bandicoot continued to ask.

"Yeah, if you don't mind the walk," confirmed Knotty.

Pips, realizing that the black-haired fairy had stopped, zipped back over to where the group was gathering. The smile on his face suggested that he was planning to call the race a victory for him. Panting heavily, Batty finally caught up with them and nearly tumbled onto the rotten log.

"Thanks for waiting," the bat remarked tiredly once he caught his breath. "Who won?"

"I did," the red-haired fairy answered immediately.

Glaring slightly at her friend, Crysta corrected, "I stopped because…"

"Mya," the small marsupial supplied.

"Because Mya called out when we were flying by," the black-haired fairy described.

"I wanted to make sure I'm still going the right way. It isn't safe anymore," she explained.

Pips flew a little closer to the long-nosed mammal and questioned, "Why do you say that?"

Mya shook her head, "The animals are disappearing. He's catching them and taking them somewhere. And I don't want him to take me away too."

"Who?" Crysta asked.

The bandicoot responded simply, "The human."

As soon as Mya spoke, the black-haired fairy knew that Batty would react badly. She wasn't disappointed. The flying mammal's eyes widened and he released a rather terrified scream. No longer demonstrating his earlier fatigue, his wings were flapping wildly as he took flight towards the closest tree. It was like he was practically tumbling through the air in fear, trying to reach something stable and secure before he crashed. He landed on one of the branches and held on tightly to the bark with the lone claw on each wing.

"No, no, no," he whimpered, cringing slightly. "We are _not_ getting involved in with humans again. I'm staying right here. Or flying back home."

"Batty," sighed Crysta softly, zipping up to the tree he was clinging to.

He shook his head, "Not going to happen. We're all going to turn around and pretend none of this ever happened. You are not going to investigate. You aren't going to accidentally shrink someone. And I am definitely not going to go anywhere near another human."

"Zak wasn't too bad," she reminded kindly. "You seemed to like him a little near the end."

"_One_ human out of the billions who live on this planet turned out to be at least kind of decent in comparison to the rest of his dangerous species," the frightened mammal stated.

"Billions?" she whispered, trying to wrap her mind around the idea of so many humans when meeting Zak had been such a shocking and rare event for the fairies.

"My point is that the odds are not in my favor when it comes to mankind and the possibility of benevolence," he continued. "No bookie would bet on this one. They'd have to do some serious work to ensure a profit. They'd have to hobble the favorite, do a little bribing, and rig everything so the gambling addicts lose all their money. They'd probably have a better chance at just sticking to games of chance instead."

"What is he talking about?" Mya asked, completely confused by the conversation.

Pips waved dismissively, "That's just Batty. You can only understand about half of the things he's talking about."

"Well, I certainly know what our little friend down there is talking about," he called down. "The human who's taking everyone away? Those are called poachers. They catch animals, sometimes alive and sometimes not, and takes them away from the rainforest. After that is when everything goes horribly wrong. It all depends on what kind of animal you are and what they want with you. You can end up as someone's pet or their dinner or their rather warm fur coat or an exhibit at a zoo. Or a lab experiment." He shuddered again, "Nope, we're not getting involved. Say good-bye to the nice bandicoot and let's get out of here."

Reaching out to the bat's face, taking care not to brush against the exposed wires in his head, Crysta reasoned, "We have to do something if the animals are being taken away to somewhere horrible. We can't just let that happen."

"Sure we can" he responded quickly. "All we have to do is stay away. It'll be easy. Easy as pie. Banana cream pie that gets slapped into someone's face while the audience laughs. Then the flower on the guy's shirt squirts the victim's face, cleaning off the pie. It'll be that easy."

"Batty," she frowned.

"You're going to fly straight into the situation and try to help the animals, undoubtedly ending up face to face with at least one human we know that doesn't have the rainforest's best interests in mind, aren't you?" the mammal stated dryly, slumping further. "Figures."

Flitting back down to where Mya was waiting, Crysta remarked, "If you tell me where this 'poacher' has been, I'll go see if he can be stopped. You don't have to come with me. I'm sure the Beetle Boys and Pips can make sure you make it to Fern Gully safely."

"I'm coming with you," interrupted the red-haired fairy. Seeing her confused look, Pips grinned at the black-haired fairy, "Someone has to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get in trouble."

"Keeping out of trouble isn't exactly your strong point," she reminded. "But I wouldn't mind if you want to come."

Nodding briefly, he turned his attention to Knotty and stated, "You boys can get Mya back safely, right?"

Root laughed, "Of course we can." The skinniest Beetle Boy turned his insect in the direction of Fern Gully, "And any of those 'poacher' things will have to deal with us."

"Oh yeah, that's comforting," the bat called down sarcastically.

"Batty, we could really use your help," Crysta stated carefully. "Out of all of us, you know the most about humans. We could use your advice when we get there."

"My advice? You want to hear my advice? It's rather simple," he stated. "Run for your life and never look back."

* * *

As soon as that bandicoot stated there were humans in the forest, he knew that he would end up in this situation. The bat knew that Crysta would insist on going to investigate and try to help the poor animals being captured. That's just the sort of person she was. She was too curious and too kind-hearted for any other possibility. And, just as he knew that the black-haired fairy would go looking for the poachers, the flying mammal knew that he was going to be following her on this batty mission. Even as he argued against the idea, he knew that he would be coming along. Just like she couldn't just leave when she knew that innocent animals were in danger, he couldn't just let the little bug rush into that situation alone. She didn't really know the dangerous of humanity like he did. Someone had to be there to grab the fairies and drag them to safety when things went bad.

Batty flapped after the twin set of lights again, this time at a far slower pace, while silently wondering how he ended up being crazy enough to follow Crysta and Pips. Every shred of survival instinct was screaming for him to fly away, but he couldn't just leave them alone. Especially not her. As much as the red-haired fairy might get into trouble with his antics, she was drawn to dangerous situations like a magnet. Not that she knew what a magnet was, but that wasn't the point. His point was that she would fly blindly into a situation either because of that curiosity that led her to meeting that blond human in the first place or because she just couldn't leave anyone in trouble. She would help anyone in need.

Including a mostly-blind, absolutely crazy and terrified bat that was crashing into everything in the rainforest. The first thing he saw once his eyesight was restored was Crysta, equally startled by her magic's success as the flying mammal. He thought she was a strange little bug, but she was the first person he could remember in a long time who had demonstrated a hint of kindness towards him. She was even upset when his brief encounter with gravity caused him to fall out of the tree. Not to say the other fairies weren't nice, but she was the one who helped undo some of the harm humans did to him. Of course, Crysta instantly decided to go investigate Mount Warning after he confirmed their presence and the strange friendship truly began.

So he was following her because he knew she would find trouble and he needed to be there to pull her out of the danger. Pips presence was for a similar reason if Batty was any judge. Well, maybe not just "friendship." That red-haired fairy certainly had his eye on her. He'd probably be the best option for her since the only other person she'd seemed to have feelings for would be a certain human before he left and long-distance relationships rarely last. Whether or not they ever settle down to raise little bugs together, he figured that Pips had the best chance of keeping up with Crysta, both literally and figuratively. He wouldn't be able to keep her from flying straight into danger, but he might be able to follow close enough to help keep her from getting in over head. At least somewhat. After all, the bat couldn't do everything himself.

"So what are we looking for exactly?" asked the red-haired fairy abruptly, interrupting the flying mammal's thoughts. "How would this 'poacher' be catching animals?"

"I'm not entirely sure," he admitted slowly, trying to recall the details of that particular documentary that showed up on the television when the humans were testing some new stimulant for an energy drink. Batty knew he'd been a little loopy that day, but he'd been injected with the small dosage thankfully. "Since he's apparently taking them alive, I doubt that he's using at least some of the possible traps. Like those big metal jaw-like ones that snap an animal's leg. Or pit trap with spikes at the bottom. Or was that a trap against the human with the hat and whip who was hunting treasure? I can never keep that one straight."

"Well, how did they catch you in the first place?" Crysta asked carefully, her uneasy tone demonstrating that she didn't want to upset the bat with her question.

The fairy's words did make him pause, his wings halting their flapping and leaving him in a slow glide. His memories of the past were not the most coherent considering how many foreign chemicals they'd pumped into him and the brilliant decision to stick a wire straight into his head. Trying to recall when he was first brought to that biology lab and how he ended up there originally wasn't exactly something he generally tried to do. Honestly, he couldn't even be certain he remembered anything before he was their test subject.

* * *

_He didn't know where he was and he didn't really care at that moment. He felt safe. He was wrapped tightly in her wings, concealing everything from sight except her Any sound besides her heartbeat and her voice was easy to ignore. He snuggled closer to her, a small smile on his face._

"_Mama," he murmured happily._

_She gave him a small smile, though it was a little strained and tired, and whispered, "It's all right, baby. I'm here. I have you, my little Koda. I won't let anything happen to you."_

_Yawning slightly, content that his mother was present and everything was right in the world, the baby bat managed to curl even closer._

"_Would you like a story?" she asked quietly. When he nodded slightly, she began, "How about the one my mother used to tell me? Once upon a time, there was a beautiful rainforest where all the animals lived happy lives in safety and all the plants grew tall and healthy. But one part of that forest was even more special and magical than the rest and that section was the reason why everyone was happy and the trees grew so well. Fairies lived there."_

"_Wha' fai'ies, Mama?" he asked._

"_Small magical creatures with clear wings and the ability to help plants grow," she described. "Like strange bugs. And they lived there, in that special place in the rainforest, where they kept the trees growing healthy with bright green leaves and delicious ripe fruit."_

_Yawning again, the infant mammal asked, "Can 'e go the'e?"_

_His mother gave him another small smile, but this one seemed a little sad, and nodded, "Sure, Koda. We'll go there someday. We'll go see the fairies together."_

"_P'omise?"_

_She nodded, tightening her wings around him so that there wasn't even the slightest chance of seeing anything outside of her embrace._

* * *

_He was alone. He was in a box with hard sides with one side that let bright light in while still being blocked by thin strips. He could hear other animals crying, but he couldn't see where they were. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. He wanted his mother back. _

"_Mama?" he called timidly. "Mama?"_

"_She's gone," a pained voice stated before breaking into harsh coughs. When the unseen speaker caught his breath, he continued, "The humans took her out of your cage."_

"_Wha' 'umans?" he whimpered._

"_The big things on two legs, no tail, and no hearts," he explained. "Didn't you see him take her out a minute ago?"_

_He shuddered, remembering something reaching in and pulling her away. He'd been too scared and horrified by the fact his mother was being taken away to pay much attention to what was actually doing the removing._

_The voice broke into another series of coughs before adding, "Humans are the reason all of us are here. You might as well get used to them. And forget about your mother."_

"_I wan' Mama," the young bat started to cry. "I wan' Mama back."_

"_She isn't coming back. She's probably being experimented on by the humans already, so she'll be dead soon. As will all of us," he stated, sounding like he was having trouble breathing. "First lesson about this place. You suffer horribly and then you die. Nothing will change that."_

_He broke into another painful bout of coughing, one that made the small mammal flinch and shiver. When the sound finally stopped, the voice didn't say anything else. In fact, even with all the other crying voices ringing out around him, it felt a little quieter. The bat edged further away from the bright light outside of the box and waited. He waited for his mother to come back. And he waited for either that voice to begin speaking again or even to start coughing. Somehow, he already knew that neither would ever happen._

* * *

She didn't expect her question to distract Batty that much. Crysta certainly didn't expect it to leave him gliding straight into a tree. Not that such crashes were unusual for the flying mammal, but she'd caught a glimpse of his expression right before impact and she didn't think that he was seeing any of his surroundings at that moment. She and Pips paused in their flight as the bat shook his head and pulled himself away from the bark. Once more, his rough landing didn't seem to result in any real damage since started flapping his wings again and followed after the pair.

"Well?" Pips prompted.

"I don't remember," admitted Batty. After a brief moment of silence, he added, "But I think I have an idea of what to look for. Most of their cages and traps are made of metal, so look for anything shiny. Especially near the ground. Or anything that doesn't belong out here. We're looking for UFOs. Unidentified Freaky Objects. And anyone who ends up being caught will be abducted and likely probed. Only it won't be aliens behind this close encounter. E.T. won't be phoning home about this one."

Recalling that certain parts of the Leveler had been reflective, Crysta nodded. Anything that didn't look like anything she'd ever seen in the forest, colors or textures that didn't belong, would have to be carefully investigated. Her eyes flickered between the large leaves scattered below her. She didn't know how big or small these traps or 'cages' might be. Would they be the size of the yellow monster Hexxus used to attack Fern Gully? Or closer to the size of the stereo that Zak gave to Pips? She didn't know.

"Over here," the red-haired fairy called abruptly.

She sped over to him, briefly gaining a blue glow around her, to see what he'd found. Batty, she noticed, was flying towards him more cautiously. The flying mammal was never going to be very eager to approach anything to do with humans.

She paused in surprise as she spotted the object that Pips found. It was a large square half-hidden beneath a couple of large flowering plants, the sides seeming to be constructed of thin silvery branches made of a hard material, 'metal,' that wove together. She could probably _almost_ fit her head in the gaps, but nothing larger than her would be able to wiggle through easily. There were a couple of more solid rectangles inside and a larger opening on one end. Also inside was some type of food that she could smell from where she floated.

"Let's see. A mesh-wire cage with a pressure-sensitive pad to activate the door," muttered Batty, landing on top of object. "Definitely a trap intended to catch, but not harm. Anyone who goes in to eat gets stuck. Simple, but effective." Then, in a snarky tone, he added, "And if you call now, we'll throw in a free subscription to 'Traps and Cages for the Professional Poacher' with your purchase."

"How do you stop these things from catching the animals?" asked Pips.

The mammal remained silent a moment before stating, "I have an idea."

Taking flight again, the bat flew briefly out of sight. Crysta glanced towards the red-haired fairy, silently asking what he thought their friend was doing. He shrugged, clearly as confused by his actions as her.

"Incoming," Batty called, facing into view with a small stone held in his clawed feet.

When he neared the cage, he let go of the rock. The stone tumbled forward for a short distance until it bounced into the cage. When it hit the solid piece of metal inside and skipped off again, the opening snapped shut and all access to the cage was cut off.

"Problem solved," he stated, sounding rather proud as he landed back on top of the object. "Can we go now?"

Landing beside him, Crysta smiled apologetically, "Maybe. Do you think there will be any other cages like this one?"

"If I say 'no,' can we go and pretend that everything is fine now?" he asked hopefully with a large smile across his face. After not receiving an immediate response, the grin faded and he admitted, "Okay, there are probably some more around here. Smart people don't put all their eggs in one basket, after all. But they might put them all in one frying pan if they're making an omelet. Sorry, off topic. Just toss a rock or something inside to deactivate the things. And no splitting up. Bad things happen whenever a group splits up. So please stay close enough to see and hear each other."

"Got it," Pips remarked, taking off again.

Walking along the edge of one of the thin pieces of metal, she nodded in response to his instructions. Batty's solution seemed easy enough to accomplish. They find the cages, toss in a stone, and keep going until they run out of these traps.

Her eyes caught sight of something stuck to the side of the cage. It was a small piece of metal attached to the outside. Flying down to inspect it further, she saw a few bright blue lines that reminded her of the drawings that recorded the history of the fairies that Magi Lune had tried to use to teach her. This particular image had a few small scribbles that were similar to those that Zak said he was using to write her name. The larger shape was a blue circle with a small blue curve inside near the bottom, a dot on the upper left part of the circle and a smaller curve on the upper right.

"Batty, do you know what this is?" she asked, tilting her head curiously.

"What?" he asked, leaning over to see what she talking about. As he caught a glimpse of the images, he stiffened in surprise. In a rather tense and nervous voice, he remarked, "That… that's a logo with some writing. I can't read it, but the picture would be a symbol connected to a business and other humans would recognize the business simply by looking at the picture."

"What's a 'business'?" Crysta asked, not quite comfortable with the expression on his face. He was always a little uneasy with humanity and their objects, but she'd never seen this particular look before. It wasn't blind panic or general hatred or simple dread. It was something more specific and horrified. She didn't know what about this odd picture would spark such a reaction. She needed more information. "Is it some kind of monster?"

Shaking his head, the bat replied, "It's kind of complicated, but all you need to know is that it would be a specific group of humans doing the same sort of thing. There are different logos for different businesses. Sometimes they even wear clothes with the symbol. They are another way for humans to keep track of which groups they belong to, among other purposes"

"So the poachers would be the ones with this specific logo," she commented carefully.

"Humans are always trouble, but those who are involved with that winking smiley face logos are extremely bad news," he stated firmly before taking flight. He called back, "So let's hurry up and get out of this place."

* * *

_Every day, they would clean the room and the cages. They would place in dry pellets of food in front of them that, while bland and tasteless, kept the animals from starving. They would poke and prod the trapped mammals with sharp objects and inject them with strange mixtures that burned or clouded the mind. The humans kept scurrying around outside the cages, wearing different clothes depending on what type of tasks they were busy with. A quick glance was all that he needed to know what to expect from a particular individual. The ones in the white lab coats were the most dangerous. They are the ones who would do the actual experimentation._

_But each one wore a small plastic name tag with writing on them. And while the letters varied, each one had the blue winking smiley face on it. The same symbol was on a number of objects in the room beyond the bars of his cage. Listening and watching the humans was the only distraction he had when they didn't turn the television on, so it took almost no time to learn that the picture was the logo for the entire place. How ironic that a winking smiley face represented Shrewd Choices, a company that brought so much pain and misery to the animals trapped inside._

* * *

No, he had to be wrong. Batty refused to believe that he'd seen that logo again. He thought that, even if he couldn't stay away from all humans, he could avoid those from Shrewd Choices. After all, he'd already accomplished the impossible. He escaped. He was supposed to be safe now. But they were here, in the rainforest. They were setting traps. They were catching more test subjects. More experiments, more injections, more pesticides, and more vivisections. No, he had to be wrong. His luck couldn't be that bad, right?

The bat flew a little higher, trying to get a better view overall of his surroundings while subtly increasing his distance from any possible traps connected to that place. It was bad enough that humans were causing problems without considering that he knew _exactly_ what was intended for these poor animals. He wished that it could have been any other group that he was dealing with.

Briefly he contemplated the potential theory that the scientists had inserted some type of homing beacon and were chasing after him. That they wanted him back and he would never be able to escape forever. But he quickly dismissed that idea after a few moments. The chances that they would go to all that trouble to chase down one of their test subjects was just a little difficult to believe. It was far more likely that he simply had the worst luck in the world.

"They won't catch me," he muttered to himself, trying to believe the words coming out of his mouth. "I'm smart enough to stay out of the traps. Pressure pads don't work if you fly. I'm safe. They can't get me. I'll be all right."

Dodging another tree trunk, he glanced over to where the glowing fairies were racing around the undergrowth. A quick snap demonstrated that they'd found another trap and deactivated it. As long as they didn't get stuck inside one by doing something foolish, he was content to let them deal with the human creations.

Abruptly, his ears pricked forward as he caught the faintest sound of an engine. His memories of television programs confirmed it to be a automobile of some type and logic suggested it to be a jeep or small truck in order to navigate through the forest. Regardless, it was clear evidence that a human was on his way. Which meant that it was time for them to flee the area as fast as their wings could carry them.

"We need to leave now," he shouted, trying to shift directions quickly. "I think our poacher is back."

His flight was suddenly halted as he collided with something. The bat didn't know what he hit, but it left him tumbling uncontrollably. Unlike his usual impacts, he wasn't stuck to the bark of a tree or falling completely to the ground. Somehow he was getting wrapped and tangled in something before his plummet was prematurely halted. His wings were pinned tightly against his sides, his right one at a rather uncomfortable angle, but he wasn't hurt by his collision. He was just stuck in midair, dangling helplessly above the ground.

"Gravity is apparently out of order," he remarked in surprise before yelling a little louder, "and I could really use some help over here."

"Batty?" Crysta's voice called anxiously. "Are you okay?"

"I'm stuck," he responded, trying to figure out what was holding him up as he wiggled in the strange bindings. "Over here. But be careful. I flew right into it."

Now that he was tangled in them, he could see something similar to a spider web with fine threads that stretched through the air between a number of trees. It was only a miracle that he didn't hit the wire in his head against anything during his tumble. But it wasn't sticky. He was just twisted and trapped in the structure like it was some kind of…

"A net," he stated, real panic starting to creep up on him. "I'm in a net. I'm stuck in a net." He heard the engine stop and the click of the vehicle door open. "No, no, no. This can't be happening."

"What happened?" asked Pips as he and Crysta flew back into view. "Is that a spider web?"

The pair of them stared at the trapped bat, trying to figure out what they were dealing with. The black-haired fairy flew closer and carefully touched one of the threads of net, looking surprised that it wasn't sticky. As soon as she established that she wouldn't get stuck by merely touching it, she started tugging at the entangling structure.

"It's a net. Another type of trap," he described quickly, trying to keep as calm as possible. If he panicked too much, he would become even more tangled. He knew about humans and their tools, which meant that he could think his way out of this. He couldn't even consider the possibility that he wouldn't escape in time. "You need to tell me how badly it's tangled and help me get loose. And fast. The human is here and I really need to get free."

"Got it," Pips nodded, flying up to where the worst of the twisting of the net was. "Try to hold still."

"Not going anywhere," Batty muttered, shivering slightly.

Crysta reached through the net and touched his wing soothingly, "It'll be all right. We'll get you out of there."

He nodded slowly and closed his eyes. He tried to stay calm, but the mammal was scared to death. He could feel his heart racing and it was taking every shred of self-control not to start struggling uselessly against the bindings. He couldn't go back. He couldn't be a lab animal. Not again. He couldn't end up as Shrewd Choice's property again.

A gruff voice, the human, grumbled from not too far away, "Stupid traps. What's wrong with them?"

"Hurry, please," Batty whimpered, shivering again as his eyes shot open again. "He's getting closer."

"We're going as fast as we can," Pips assured, pulling at the threads as hard as the fairy could.

Even as he watched the two flying creatures tugging and twisting at the net, he could see that they weren't making any progress. At least, not making progress fast enough to matter. He could hear the approaching footsteps of the human as they stomped through the undergrowth. The bat didn't want to admit it, but he wasn't going to be able to get free before it was too late. He was trapped and helpless.

"No, no, no, no," he whispered, shaking his head sharply in horror. "It's just a nightmare. This isn't happening. Quick, someone click the ruby slippers together. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

"It'll be okay," Crysta tried to sooth, but even she was starting to sound doubtful. "You'll be all right, Batty."

He met her gaze and, for the first time in he didn't know how long, his mind felt perfectly clear and completely unclouded by the damage of his past. He knew exactly what was going to happen and that nothing that any of them tried would change it. His fate was sealed. All that was left to be decided was if he was going to get the fairies hurt in the process.

"I think it might be time for a couple of little bugs to go," commented Batty, his voice shaking nearly as much as the rest of him.

"No," she argued, pulling even harder on the net. "We're not going to let them take you."

"I really don't think there's much of a choice now," he remarked, catching sight of movement. The human was almost there. "Time's up. So, both of you get out here while I have a nervous breakdown."

"But…," began the dark-haired fairy, but Pips grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the rapidly approaching poacher.

Even as the magical creatures flew away, Crysta arguing loudly about abandoning her friend to his fate, Batty's last piece of calm and control frayed and he began to frantically struggle against the tangling net. He knew it was useless even as he started, but panic and fear meant that he had no choice but to try. He wanted to get loose, he wanted to escape, and he wanted to stay away from humans. Tossing his head, the pieces of metal sticking out connected and-

_-Bzzt-_

"Only the true king can pull the sword from the stone," he explained solemnly, nodding thoughtfully to himself as he-

_-Bzzt-_

"Never give up, never surrender," he declared. "Activate warp drive. If we can lure the enemy ships out of neutral space, we can have our reinforcements to take out there shield generators."

He started to turn to address his Second-in-Command in order to obtain his opinion on the situation, but-

_-Bzzt-_

He announced cheerfully, "Shrewd Choices: Cheap and swift improvements to your daily life."

As he tried to gesture to the display of fine products behind him, he felt something-

_-Bzzt-_

Batty stopped moving his head as soon as he realized that his mind was back to normal again. He didn't want to spark off another set of hallucinations by frying his poor brain more. Unfortunately, he managed to regain awareness of his surroundings just as the human started reaching for him.

"No, no, no, no, no," he started shouting in horror. "Not again. I don't want to go back. Not there. Not again. Back off. I'm warning you. I'll call the cops. The army. My lawyer." His voice was becoming more frantic and terrified as the gloved hand started trying to hold onto him while detangling him from the net. "No, no, no. I can't go back. No."

By now he was struggling as hard as he could, not caring if he hit the wire again or even hurt himself with efforts. He needed to escape. He was absolutely petrified at the idea of returning and he would do anything just to have a slim chance at slipping free. But, even as he was pulled out of the twisted bindings in the human's tight grip, he knew that it was already over. He was once more at the nonexistent mercy of humans.

Still shaking in fear and struggling, he was now hoping that he would hit the wire again. A hallucination that left him thinking that he was a character in a soap opera or cashier at a supermarket would actually be a blessing at that moment.

**Well, that's certainly an evil place to stop. But it is the most logical spot to end a chapter. Unfortunately, I don't know when I'll be able to update again. I just hope that you won't mind the wait too much.**

**Remember, feedback is appreciated. Reviews make writers happy people. Thanks.**


	3. A Little Bird Told Me

**I've definitely enjoyed the feedback so far. I know this isn't a huge fandom, so I appreciate any reviews that I might receive. It makes me smile to know that someone is reading and enjoying this story. Things are not going well for poor Batty. And they will undoubtedly get worse before they get better. _If_ they get better.**

Even as he pulled her away from the trapped and obviously terrified bat, Pips knew she would hate him for what he was doing. He didn't want to leave Batty behind anymore than Crysta did, but they didn't have much choice. They were simply out of time. And he had to keep her safe.

"Let me go," she shouted, trying to wiggle free of his grip as he flew them towards the closest coverage. "We have to help him. Please."

Not loosening his grip in the slightest, he replied, "We will. But if the human wants to take him away like the other animals, he'll need to get Batty out of the web 'net' thing first. We're not giving up. We'll still save him."

The black-haired fairy didn't look completely convinced, but she stopped fighting against him quite as much. Hidden beneath a dark-green leaf, the pair watched the human set down another metal box and reached towards the tangled bat with a gloved hand. The individual had short brown hair as opposed to Zak's blond hair. His clothes were also different colors, though apparently of similarly unfamiliar materials. He also looked older than the human Crysta once shrunk. And there was something about this person that felt different than Zak. Even when he didn't quite trust the blond human and was busy dealing with jealousy over the time he was spending with the black-haired fairy, Pips felt more uneasy watching the brunet man at a distance than he ever did with Crysta's friend.

They observed silently as the trapped mammal yelled and struggled frantically against the touch, his words a mixture of incomprehensible references and panicked pleads. Crysta was shaking beside him with the effort to remain in place. Pips knew that she wanted to be over there, helping the terrified bat even with the danger.

"Most of my traps are empty, but at least the mist trap has_ something_," the human muttered. "Resetting all these things is a pain. And you have to keep checking them, but all you find is an undersized and scrawny rat with wings. Probably already caught all the dumb animals in the area. I'll need to move these soon. At least some of the other sites are working out better." Tugging further at the twisted thin strands, he coaxed, "Come here little bat. My paycheck depends on you."

Wiggling desperately, Batty was never the less pulled out of the strange bindings by the large being. Pips tensed, ready to take action the moment he saw an opportunity. He didn't know what type of action it would require, but there would have to be something. If they human could be distracted while he was carrying the mammal wherever he was planning to go, maybe he would let go briefly and the bat could fly out of there. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all he could devise at the moment. If they had more time, he might have been able to think of something else. Of course, if they had more time, they might have been able to get Batty out of the tangling restraints themselves.

What he didn't expect was for the human to slam the mammal inside another one of those "cage" things and carry it back the way he came.

"Come on," ordered Crysta, taking off.

"Be careful," he called, following her closely.

The twin streaks of light zipped after the human and his catch. Batty was alternating between shaking at the thin pieces of metal trapping him and slamming himself against the sides. Pips might not know much about humans and their creations, but he could still see that the mammal's efforts weren't amounting to much.

"It wasn't me. I was framed. They set me up, planted evidence, and tricked the witnesses into committing perjury. False imprisonment. Police brutality. I'll sue you for this," babbled the terrified bat as he tried to escape. "The trial will be a joke. The jury will see through you instantly and vote you guilty in a heartbeat. You'll be sentenced and I'll write a book about the whole experience. You don't want a tell-all book about you on the market. It'll ruin any credibility or chance at probation you might have in the future. So do yourself a favor and let me go."

The human didn't even react to the mammal's escape attempts or strange remarks. He continued walking through the underbrush, swinging the "cage" slightly until he reached another strange object. In a lot of ways, it reminded the red-headed fairy of the Leveler. It wasn't quite as big and certainly lacked the strange arm-like attachments or the sharp-edged tree-shredders. The thing rested on four round shapes instead of those thick straps with spikes the Leveler used to move. It wasn't yellow either. It was black and only the front section was completely enclosed. The back half was a hollow space that seemed to be filled with similar "cages" containing a number of small mammals. The trapped animals were also shouting to be released and clawed at the thin pieces of metal, but they didn't seem to be in the state of blind panic that Batty was.

Casually slinging the cage into the back of the large structure, the human banged on the stacked enclosures and ordered "Quiet down. You're going to scare off all the other animals. I have about two more traps to check and reset, so try to keep the noise down a little longer."

As soon as the human stepped out of sight, the two fairies raced towards the trapped animals. While the impact and noise of the man smacking the "cage" temporarily cowed them into silence, the arrival of the small glowing figure sent them back into frantic pleading.

"Get me out, please," a young bandicoot begged, sticking his nose through a gap in the enclosure.

A wombat screamed, "I want out of here. Don't let him take me away."

"Please help us," whimpered a crest-tailed mulgara, scampering to the corner of her box closest to the fairies. "I just want to go home."

"Don't worry," soothed Crysta, tugging on the thin bars of the different enclosures in search of an escape. "We'll get all of you out. Somehow."

The red-haired fairy followed her example, poking around the various "cages" in the hopes of finding a way to release them. He flitted between the different ones, pulling and twisting at whatever point that he thought he might have a chance of opening them. None of them had the black spots to push like the "stereo" did and, even when he found what were probably the entrances, there didn't seem to be any way to force them open.

"Batty, how do you open these things?" he called, flitting over to the shivering mammal's enclosure.

"You can't escape. No one ever escapes. You suffer horribly and then you die," the bat muttered, staring blankly at the thin bars while shaking helplessly.

He wasn't slamming against the barriers anymore, but this was somehow far worse. It was as if he wasn't even seeing the fairies or other trapped animals anymore. It wasn't quite the same as when the flying mammal's brain was scrambled by touching the "wires" in his head. This was different. He'd moved beyond the desperate escape attempts to paralyzing fear. Whatever going on in his strange mind, Pips highly doubted that the mammal was hearing his words.

His gaze still unfocused, Batty muttered further, "You can't escape. Not really. No one ever leaves. You're trapped while they poke you and prod you and measure and inject chemical cocktails into you and keep trying more experiments until there's nothing left of you. I should have known. You can't escape. You're trapped until you die."

His quiet and terrified words sparked off further panic from the other trapped animals, causing them to erupt into frantic whimpers and cries for freedom. Crysta flew over to the bat's "cage" and reached through the gaps as best she could, resting her hands on the shivering mammal's wings.

"Batty, look at me," begged the black-haired fairy. "Tell us how to get you and the others out. Please, talk to me. How can we help you?"

He jerked at the touch, but he managed to look at her and apparently see the concerned fairy. How long his moment of clarity might be last, Pips couldn't guess. But the bat was paying attention again the reality again, at least.

"You can't," he whispered. "You can't help us. It's already too late."

"Don't say that," ordered Crysta. "You're going to be all right. I promise."

The mammal shook his head, "No, I won't. Humans finally caught up with me again. It was only luck I escaped the first time and it won't happen again." He shuddered, "I guess I'm headed back to the biology lab. Home sweet home."

Pips gave the bat's enclosure another sharp yank, refusing to let their friend be taken away without trying his best to save him. Just because Batty was resigned to his fate did not mean that the fairy would give up. Before he could try again, the red-headed fairy heard the stomping footsteps of the human returning. He wouldn't let that brunet man capture them too.

"I'm sorry, Crysta," he stated, grabbing her arm gently. "We have to go."

"We can't leave all these animals," argued the black-haired fairy, but he could tell that she knew he was right.

"It's fine. Get out of here. Nothing a little bug could do about it anyway," Batty assured. "I think I'm going to fry my brain for a little while, though. Time for a different channel."

The mammal reached one of his wings up and touched the exposed pieces "wire" together. A quick _bzzt_ sounded and the bat started describing the "versatility and ease of losing weight on the new tuna diet." As the fairies flew back towards the closest foliage, the other animals restarted their desperate pleas and were silenced by another hit by the returning human. The brunet man pulled a blue shape, something that was flexible and thin as a leaf, across the top of the various "cages" and hid them from sight.

The human, the "poacher," then climbed into the enclosed section of the strange contraption and the entire thing began to rumble. It wasn't quite the same, but still rather similar to the noise that the Leveler produced before Zak climbed inside the monstrosity to stop it. As soon as the deep sound began to emerge, the odd object began to move forward. It began picking up speed, even with all the obstacles and the uneven surface causing it to bounce and jerk wildly. Pips and Crysta took flight, chasing the collection of trapped animals. Even as the black shape continued to speed up and move farther away, the pair of fairies followed desperately. Unlike their impromptu race before, there was a far greater prize at stake than bragging rights. Their friend and a number of innocent mammals were slipping further and further away.

As the rumbling object sped out of sight, they followed the clear and distinct impressions in the mud and dirt. The twin lights streaked forward, neither slowing nor hesitating as they tracked the long-out-of-sight shape. They didn't say it, but both fairies knew that if they lost the "machine," all of Batty's fears and hopeless predictions would come true for both him and the other animals that were captured. They couldn't let that happen.

When the two fairies cleared another log, this one partially crushed by the fleeing black object, they stopped. The trail was no longer the only one of its kind. Other similar tracks converged and divided, suggesting that other such "machines" traveled the area. Pips glanced around, trying to determine which one could be the correct path. The patterns overlapped and seemed to melt together until he couldn't spot the freshest tracks. He didn't want to admit it, but they lost the trail and their target. The captured animals were gone.

"No," whispered Crysta, flitting first to one set of tracks and then to another. "No. We can't lose them. Which way…?"

She flew a little further across the torn up ground, her eyes searching desperately for a hint of where to find their friend. When she was finally forced to admit the truth, she sank down to the ground where small sprouts were already blooming in her presence. The newly-formed pieces of green that followed her movements did little to help her mood. The black-haired fairy, her magic the strongest out of all them, sat there for several moments staring hopelessly at the forest before finally breaking down in tears.

Without hesitation, Pips flew over and landed right beside her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her tight. She took on so much responsibility and cared so much for those around her, but even Crysta needed someone to be there for her sometimes. They would find the animals and save them. He refused to give up. But for now, he would be there and hold her.

* * *

-_Bzzt_-

"If you call now, we'll double your order and throw in a free toolkit. We're that sure that you'll love our product. And if you aren't satisfied for any reason, we'll refund your money and you can keep the toolkit as our gift to you-"

-_Bzzt_-

"Oh Susan, that wasn't me kissing your cousin last night. That was my evil twin, Robert. And it wasn't your cousin. It was your hairdresser in disguise-"

-_Bzzt_-

"Mork, calling Orson. Come in, Orson. Mork, calling Orson. Come in, Orson-"

-_Bzzt_-

"I'm sorry. The number you have dialed has been disconnected. Please hang up and try again-"

-_Bzzt_-

Batty shook his head, momentarily back in a semi-sane state of mind. And he instantly wished that he wasn't. Trapped. Trapped and on his way back to the last place on Earth he wanted to go. He wanted nothing more than for all of this to be a horrible dream, but it wasn't. It was all too real.

Surrounded by scared animals, all clamoring for an explanation or a rescue, he knew exactly what was coming. Hidden beneath a plastic tarp and being carried off in a truck, they were oblivious to what was coming. The bouncing and jostling of the trip helped keep his mind scrambled as he kept hitting the exposed wire in his head, but his instances of clarity left him far more knowledgeable than those around him. None of them had the faintest idea of what would happen to them. They couldn't even imagine what would become of them. Only he knew what was coming. Only he'd been there before, in the realm of the darkest nightmares and horrors of the human mind.

And that was why he sought to keep his mind clouded and scrambled. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to know what was coming. Ignorance was bliss. The mammal would be happier not to dwell on what he would soon suffer. Or to consider what might become of Crysta and Pips without someone to watch out for them.

Wishing to remain lost in the fried synapses of his poor brain, he reached his wing up again to touch the exposed wires and-

-_Bzzt_-

"The sun'll come out, _tomorrow_. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be _sun_. Just thinking about_ tomorrow_ wipes away the cobwebs and the sorrow, 'til there's none-"

-_Bzzt_-

* * *

It was all her fault. Maybe not with the other animals, but the Batty… It was completely her fault. He didn't want to come. He warned them about the danger and he kept trying to convince them to leave. She knew that he was terrified of humans. She knew that he was scared to come with them, but she made him come with them anyway. He always complained that she was too curious, too eager to fly into a dangerous situation and help out. But the bat would flap after her, willing to be there if things went wrong. And now… he was gone.

Crysta cried as Pips held onto her tightly. She couldn't help it. She could still see the scared and resigned expression on the trapped mammal's face. Batty was convinced that he was already doomed by the time they were forced to leave him in the net. He was so positive that he would not get out of the situation alive. And if they couldn't find him, it might be true. Even when she promised, she promised, that she would save him, the bat was certain that he would soon be dead. His fear of falling back into human hands finally came true. And it was her fault.

"Are you all right?" a rather kind voice asked, startling the two fairies. "Please don't cry."

A small brown bird fluttered down from the trees, landing beside the pair. She chirped softly, ruffling her feathers as she looked at the upset fairies that were not much smaller than her.

A second bird, this one far brighter in plumage than her, landed next to the first and gave them a similar look of concern. His body was a chestnut brown with a creamy belly and brown wings. His throat was dark blue with a purple back. His head was a darker violet-blue that shimmered iridescently, almost magically. While her beak was a reddish-brown, his was black. Both of them were referred to as, ironically, fairy-wrens. Specifically, Purple-backed Variegate Fairy-wrens.

"You were following the human-thing, weren't you?" the male remarked. "Please excuse us for intruding. My name's Derian and this is my wife, Lucella."

Wiping away a tear from her face, the black-haired fairy replied, "I'm Crysta and this is Pips. And yes, we were. A friend of ours was trapped inside of it. And it's all my fault. We shouldn't have made him come."

"No one could have predicted this, Crysta. It isn't your fault," her red-headed friend tried to convince.

"The human's been taking lots of animals away," Lucella remarked. "The flock's been getting concerned."

Pips asked hopefully, "Do you know where they're taking them? Where the 'machine' is going?"

"No," answered Derian, shaking his head. "And no one ever comes back."

Any vague hope that Crysta might still hold on to vanished like lightning. A brief source of illumination that extinguished with a crash and left the world back in darkness. Batty and every other animal the brunet human took were truly gone. They would never find him and they couldn't save him. Her promise was nothing but empty words, lies that would stay with her friend as the final thing she said to him.

"Maybe the Good Human can help them find their friend," suggested the brown bird, turning towards her husband.

"What?' Crysta asked, her head raising.

Derian clarified his wife's statement, "Our flock never leaves this forest, but others travel and bring back stories. The newest is of a strange human, one who is different and benevolent far beyond anything that most animals encounter. The details of the tales can vary greatly, but there is still enough. The stories suggest this human's nest is a safe refuge for any animal that approaches. The plants there are supposed to be so healthy and happy that you would think fairies live there. Of course, the more farfetched stories suggest this human can speak to and understand animals, but those are the more wild tales. Others talk about the human having magic, being a transformed fairy, or even the ability to fly. I'll believe it when I see it."

"But all the tales agree that this human is good," Lucella added. "If anyone is able to help you find your friend, surely the Good Human would. Humans would probably know how to find their own kind far better than anyone else would, right?"

"Maybe, but is it safe?" asked Pips. "If at least one human is taking the animals, how do we know we can trust this one to help us instead of the other humans? All we have to rely on about the supposed 'Good Human's' trustworthiness is stories."

"All we had to rely on about humanity's very existence was stories," the black-haired fairy reminded, standing up as her expression hardened into one of determination. "And we don't have any other options. We can't give up on Batty and the others. If there is even a small chance that this human could help us, we have to try."

Her father once told her that she was too old for human tales. He thought that she shouldn't still believe in fantasies that there was simply no proof to support. But then she found that that proof, she found both Zak and the Leveler, out in the forest. Everything might not have been exactly like the tales, but there was still a seed of truth at the center that could easily grow into something real and dependable. So even if there was only stories that there might be a human out there who might be able to help them, she was willing to believe there could be truth growing at the heart of the tale.

"Can you tell us how to get there?" she asked, turning towards the colorful male bird.

Derian exchanged a look with Lucella before turning his attention back to the fairy and nodding, "The chicks are out of the nest and flying around quite well. The rest of the flock can take care of them." Ruffling his feathers, he continued, "We might not have been there before, but we've heard enough stories that I think we should be able to find the human's nest."

"Is it in the 'city'?" asked Crysta, remembering Zak's description of the place where he lived.

"Not nearly that far," Lucella shook her head. "Only the most far-flying flocks bring back tales of the city. That place is a long way away, but you can find humans away from the city. Some prefer more solitude, I suppose. You'll still have to leave the forest, however."

The black-haired fairy turned towards Pips, "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I won't make you. You can go home and tell my father and the rest of them what is happening."

He shook his head, "I'm coming with you, no matter where you go."

She smiled a little at the support. It would be far easier to face the unknown if she wasn't alone. And anything outside the forest could count as the unknown.

"Then if you are ready, follow us," stated Derian, taking flight.

Without the slightest hesitation, Crysta took off after the brightly-colored bird. Pips quickly followed while the duller fairy-wren took up position behind them. They may no longer have the "machine" to follow, but they had a goal again. And that was enough for now to reignite her hope.

* * *

_He couldn't see. Light was only vaguely detectable and everything else was nothing more than moving shadows. And any movement his poor eyes managed to detect was a bad thing. Only humans were moving around out there._

_He didn't move around much anymore. There was no point. He couldn't see, his head was attached to a wire that hurt whenever he pulled to hard, and it was just getting too hard to even try staying alive._

_He'd been going through all of these experiments for as long as he could remember, his mind pushed to the limits until he reached a point where his insanity at least made some level of sense again. He knew he would never stop suffering, never stop being injected or fed numerous chemicals that left him barely alive, until they carried his lifeless body out and tossed in another pathetic mammal to be used as a test subject. As long as he was alive, this would continue to be his life. He knew he'd been here the longest, that he'd been suffering and dangling on to life in this place longer than any other animal. It would be best to just give up. Humans would be the death of him. He might as well just let it happen sooner rather than later._

_A shadow moved somewhere beyond the edge of the cage, causing the bat to flinch. He didn't bother to do anymore than that, however. He heard the human begin to open the cage door and even saw a shadow that might have been a hand start approaching him._

"_Dr. Pierce, could you help me with this? Subject twelve is displaying some aggressive behavior and possibly hallucinations. It has been attacking at random spots in the cage and I'm having difficulty getting a grip on it," a voice announced from somewhere to the left._

"_Yes, bandicoots can be little difficult to grab without practice," the far closer voice remarked, the shadow pulling back. "But the treatment should not be causing excessive aggression and hallucinations. What was the dosage of the new trial of sunscreen substitutes did you use?"_

_There was a series of footsteps as the human went over to where the other one was speaking from, talking about whatever was happening to the bandicoot that was snarling and yelling about spiders. The discussion of dosages barely registered, however. The bat was too busy focusing on a sound he **didn't** hear. He was too shocked to react at first, but it was true._

_He didn't hear the human close the cage door._

_Desperately, he tried to recall whether or not he was wrong. The humans always remembered to close the cages. Of course, since he'd not moved much the last few times they'd decided to pull him out for experiments and the human was distracted… it might be possible they forgot._

_Hope, something he thought was long since dead and gone, cautiously began to poke itself in his poor scrambled mind. He didn't dare even pause to think; not that thinking was very easy for him with his fried brain. That small spark of hope was the only thing that he could use to guide his actions at the moment. If he hesitated, this impossible opportunity would slip away._

_He reached up and pulled at the wire on his head with his small claws on his wings. It hurt, but he kept pulling it down as hard as he could manage. When he couldn't stand the pressure any longer, he bit down on the wire._

_-**Bzzt**-_

_Pain exploded through his body, but he kept biting down until he felt it sever. He took a breath, shuddering slightly as he tried to get past the unpleasant experience of electrocution through his brain and having all his thoughts scrambled. But he didn't have time to recover any further than that. The sound of sparking electricity was apparently loud enough to capture the humans' attention and the sound of hurried footsteps urged the bat to move._

_Flight. Did he even know how to fly? There wasn't much room in a cage to practice such a thing and it was even harder to move around while attached to a device with a wire. It didn't matter. He had to try. Wings flapping wildly, he flung himself out of the open cage and into the actual room. Gravity didn't immediately start pulling him down, so he continued his frantic escape attempt. Shadowy shapes moved towards him, probably hands trying to catch him during his blind flailing. The other animals, trapped and under the influence of untold chemicals, called out either encouragement or pleas to freed as well. He couldn't concentrate on that. Where was the exit?_

_Abruptly, he felt a small breeze of air as a familiar creak emerged from the right. One of the humans shouted for someone to shut the door, but the bat was already flinging himself in that direction and through the opening that he'd always seen across the room._

_Blind and lost in the building, he flapped wildly as he tried to stay airborne and out of the range of the increasingly panicked humans trying to catch him. He wouldn't let them grab him. He wouldn't let them touch him. He wouldn't go back._

_He kept hitting walls, the ceiling, doorframes, and unrecognizable objects. Weren't bats supposed to have radar? He couldn't remember. It sounded like something he saw on the television once, but he couldn't think. His head was scrambled by years of experimenting, impact, and fear. If he had radar, he didn't know how to use and it certainly wasn't keeping him from hitting almost everything in the entire building. Humans probably messed it up anyway._

_Screams and shouts from the humans were distracting, but he refused to stop. He was sore from every impact with a solid structure and he was unbelievably disoriented by the shadows that his unseeing eyes kept detecting, but he kept trying to find his way… somewhere. He didn't know where he was trying to get to, but he wouldn't let the humans take him back to the cage. He would rather they break his neck in the attempt._

_Another breeze and an increase in random noises. Someone had opened another door. He didn't know where it would lead, but he flew in that direction. His wing clipped the edge of the door frame, but he made it through. There was a freshness in the air, the stinging smell of antiseptic completely absent, and the surrounding noise seemed less enclosed. Everything seemed brighter, but less harsh than the fluorescent lights of the biology lab. Even blind and flapping wildly, he could feel the difference._

_He was outside the building. He was outside. He managed to impossible._

_He escaped._

* * *

Jostling movement woke him. His continued efforts to remain unaware of his surroundings by hitting the exposed wires, along with the general impact of travel, finally wore him out enough for unconsciousness to set in. Unfortunately, that short reprieve was over.

Batty glanced around as his cage was carried by the human. He was inside a building, the walls painted bright white with a tile floor. The lights glowed harshly, reflecting off the floor. But the smell was the worst. The antiseptic scent attacked his nose, leaving no doubt of where he was.

The human opened a door and stepped inside with his cargo. A wall of metal cages with whimpering animals lined the wall. Various pieces of equipment, all of it made of gleaming metal, was scattered across the rest of the room. A television on the far side, displaying a commercial about toothpaste, was turned on while a familiar human in a white lab coat poked a needle into a very sluggish wombat.

The human, wearing thick glasses that Batty recalled him having from the days prior to the mammal going blind, looked up cheerfully at the new arrivals. Even as the bat pressed himself firmly towards the back of the wire-mesh container, he knew that there was no escape.

"Perfect timing, Martin," Dr. Pierce complimented. "We were in need of a few new test subjects."

**Another chapter complete. Of course, I have far more planned before things are finished. Predictions are always appreciated. In fact, any kind of feedback makes me happy. Reviews are wonderful incentive to continue working and to hurry up. Not that I can make any promises about the time frame needed for updates, but it's the thought that counts.**


	4. Familiar Faces

**Again, thanks for the wonderful feedback so far in this small fandom. I definitely appreciate it. There are simply not that many people who read for this category and every review means a lot. Everyone so far feels really bad for poor Batty and seems to want a rescue for him in the near future. While that time is not yet, I will add another chapter that should help bring everyone one step closer to freeing the bat (hopefully…).**

**And entering the realm of humanity should be rather strange and unsettling for the fairies. They live their lives under the safety of the forest canopy, far from a number of human creations and how we shape the world around us. It is bound to be unusual and confusing for them. There's not a lot of action in most of this chapter, but plenty of information is being imparted about a certain character.**

"Perfect timing, Martin," Dr. Pierce complimented. "We were in need of a few new test subjects."

The doctor leaned down to the cage in the man's grip. He was telling the truth. The current formula was taking a real toll on the specimens. It would need to be adjusted so that it no longer proved fatal. Once they prepared the next batch with a few adjustments, they would try it on the new test subjects that Martin was bringing in. If those didn't die as quickly, it would be a sign he was on the right track.

He paused briefly as he looked at the specimen in the cage the man brought in his first load. A bat, an undersized member of the order Chiroptera and family Pteropodidae according to the traits his trained eye picked up on, was pressed against the back of the cage. It seemed to be rather small for its species since most of the so-called Megabats were large specimens who feed on fruit or nectar, depending on the specific species in question. Perhaps there was a variable during the subject's developmental stages that hindered growth enough to account for the size. It didn't quite look like it was an immature sample of its species; it merely looked like a miniature example of one of the large fruit bats that lived on the continent. Perhaps a Grey-headed Flying Fox. Or a Large-eared Flying Fox, though Martin's hunting grounds would be a little outside the species' native habitat. Regardless, it was certainly too small for such a bat unless there was a factor that would have stunted its growth. An interesting concept he might want to contemplate at a later time.

More intriguing than the smaller size, however, was the odd wire sticking out of the side of its head. It would seem that Martin's latest delivery was not quite as new as it would first appear. As amusing as it might be to imagine, most specimens freshly caught in the wild rarely come equipped with wires for easy monitoring. The bat in the cage was an escaped subject, likely from a science lab since they were the most likely to install wiring into the brain of specimen. Building on that evidence and his growing theory, Dr. Pierce knew that similarly-undersized bats with implants in their cranium escaping from a laboratory were far too unlikely. Based upon that low probability of such a coincidence, it was possible that this subject was the one that escaped two years ago. He certainly recalled the event, the result of small mistake and laziness on his part unfortunately, since it was so rare for the specimens to cause such an uproar and escape from the science lab, let alone the entire building. How strange and interesting that Martin would capture this particular test subject with his traps. Dr. Pierce contemplated performing the math to determine the probability of such an event.

Taking the cage from Martin, the doctor stated, "Thank you. I'll have my assistants help unload the rest of them."

He waved at the blond young woman and the frizzy-haired young man in the corner, indicating they follow Martin back to his truck and his cargo. As they left the room, the bespectacled doctor carried his unexpected specimen to the closest prepared cage. Already ideas of how to make use of the implants installed in the bat's brain were appearing in his head. It would certainly simplify anything he might wish to monitor. All the prep work, the surgery, and waiting for the specimen to heal enough for further testing was finished a long time ago.

If he was less firmly dedicated to science and more inclined to flights of whimsy, he probably would have suggested that the highly-unlikely return of an escaped subject was sign of his changing luck and that the next trial of the formula would be more successful. Being the rational man he was, he easily transferred the specimen to the empty cage with a gloved hand and prepared for the next animal that was brought in.

* * *

Nope. This was not happening. He was not back in a cage, in the biology lab, in the clutches of Dr. Pierce, at Shrewd Choices. It was not happening. This was all a big nightmare. Batty knew any second now he was going to wake up. He would wake up and it would all be over.

Even as he huddled at the back of the metal box, exactly like how he used to before his escape, the mammal knew that his denials of the truth were just as useless as the fairies' attempts to untangle him from the net in time. As each frightened and confused new animal was relocated to the cages against the wall, the bat remained perfectly still in his corner. He was doomed. There was no way he was going to get lucky enough a second time. What were the chances someone would leave a door open again?

After the newest batch of captured future test subjects, Batty included, were properly loaded into their new prisons, the humans left the room with the poacher. Probably to discuss payment or the next shipment. The bat didn't know for certain or care. All he cared about was the fact he was back in the one place he never wanted to even think about again.

"Well, look at this," a rather mocking voice to the extreme left remarked. "New meat."

"Quiet, Ranley," another voice, close to the first, scolded harshly. "Can't you see they're scared enough as it is without you making it worse? Leave them alone."

A third voice, a female, added soothingly, "Let's all calm down, dearies. Wouldn't it be best to make our new members feel welcome and try to reassure them?" When she didn't receive any immediate arguments from the first two speakers, she continued, "My name's Gert. And this is—"

"This is the biology lab dedicated to product testing for Shrewd Choices, the source of cheap and swift improvements to your daily life," interrupted Batty. "Here, all the fine and wonderful products of the company undergo a series of experimentation in order to assure that each and every purchase you make is guaranteed to be safe for you and your family. While the location is closed to the public for safety reason, the production level of the main factory are available for paid tours on appointment and serve as an ideal location for school trips. Shrewd Choices are a proud supporter of education and many schools purchase our cleaning products because of that and because of their reliability." Most of the animals that weren't moaning in pain fell silent at the unexpected expertise of a new arrival or at the oddness of his statement. "You can also purchase in bulk or make special requests for some of our products if you want them personalized, thought the cost will reflect that."

"How… what are you… who are you?" asked Ranley, apparently confused by the trapped mammal. "You just got here, but…," he trailed off.

Batty stated simply, "I'm proof that you can never get away from this place. Not really. Once you come here, you're doomed. Even if a miracle happens and you think you've managed to get somewhere safe, somewhere with good little magic bugs and that you only have to deal with the occasional shrunken human, it won't last. They'll swoop in and drag you back here so they can cut you up, poison you, electrify you, and play mad scientist until there's nothing left." He paused briefly, trying to cling to his memories of Fern Gully and his short reprieve from his life in a cage before he _truly_ accepted what his future would hold, and finally muttered, "First lesson about this place. You suffer horribly and then you die. Nothing will change that."

* * *

Following the pair of fairy-wrens was, at first, perfectly easy. The birds fluttered under the canopy, weaving in between the tree trunks in a fashion similar to how the fairies tended to in their races. When the trees began to thin and they reached the edge of the forest, Crysta saw Pips begin to look uncomfortable. He'd never left the safety of the forest. Being exposed to the clear blue sky was a little unnerving and unfamiliar. He'd never been beyond the comforting presence of the tree coverage. She, on the other hand, did remember that experience. She'd left it before on her flight to Mount Warning to see the humans. The memory of that day, of Batty refusing to continue past the edge of the rainforest to where the humans lurked and still ended up flying after her to save her and Zak from the Leveler. The mammal went where he feared to in order to protect her. She could do no less. And Pips might have hesitated briefly on the edge of the unknown, but he followed swiftly after their feathery guides.

The next step that cased them pause was a black rock trail that the "machines" traveled along. Lucella explained that it was like how they followed those muddy tracks in the forest, but this was easier to see and it gave the ground-based animals a little warning of where the "machines" were likely to be. Mostly they seemed strange, a yellow set of lines dividing the black rock trail in half along the length. They crisscrossed the increasingly-open landscape, often with a set of branchless and leafless trees connected by a black vine-like thing that different birds perched on. The fairies flew over the trails, following the fairy-wrens wherever they might lead.

When the sun began to set, turning the sky to shades of oranges and reds as intense as several flowers that Crysta was familiar with, their guides landed in a nearby tree to sleep. The tree bore several fruits that the pair of hungry fairies eagerly ate before finding cozy perches on the thick branches. The couple ruffled their feathers and huddled next to each other quite comfortably. The fairies didn't manage to find sleep as easily. The "machines" traveling along the black rock trail below continued to pass them, rumbling loudly and shining a bright light in front of them. It was rather distracting and kept waking her up whenever she managed to start drifting off.

As soon as the first light began to creep over the horizon, Derian and Lucella woke up and took flight once more. The pair led the tired fairies farther and farther from the rainforest, passing strange structures that humans kept entering and existing. The birds explained that the objects were human "nests" that they lived inside of or to gather for various purposes. None of them, according to the fairy-wrens, were the right home. The "Good Human" was surprisingly far away from the rainforest and each tree length they flew from Fern Gully brought them further from anything familiar.

Shortly after midday on their second day of flight, the fairy-wrens began to approach local birds with questions about their goal. The resident flocks had nothing but positive things to say about the "Good Human." They spoke of fresh seed and nuts that were often left out in small containers outside the "nest". The birds also occasionally mentioned bandicoots, sugar gliders, and the occasional dunnart that took shelter among the plants around the "Good Human's" home. Crysta didn't listen to most of the stories, only the directions that the various birds shared. Batty had been gone, alone and scared, since the day before. Her focus was on finding the only person who might be able to help them as quickly as possible.

Finally, the iridescent male dove towards what almost looked like a small rainforest surrounding one of the human "nests." The structure in the center had reflective rectangles on the top, something missing from the other "nests." Lush trees and bright green bushes covered the area around it, offering plenty of cover and shelter that the fairies missed desperately. Even before she flew near the plants, causing new sprouts to grow in her presence, Crysta couldn't help smiling. All of the other vegetation they'd passed on their journey felt either dull and resigned or suffering so much that it was painful for her to not help. But not here. From the tallest trees to the smallest flower, everything here felt happy and content to such an extent that she almost believed she was back in Fern Gully.

"This is amazing," whispered Pips, flying down to the closest bush. "Are we back home? This feels so different than the tree from last night."

Landing on a small human object with seeds, Lucella explained, "This is where the Good Human roosts. It is a place of safety, a sanctuary that is surrounded by the more dangerous world of humans. This is where you will find help."

"And this is where we leave you," added Derian. "We must return to our flock. I hope that you find a way to find your friend."

"Thank you for your help," Crysta smiled as the two birds took flight once more.

As they watched the fairy-wrens taking off they way they came, Pips turned towards his dark-haired companion, "So, we're here. Now what? How do find this human?"

Almost as if in answer to his question, there was a creak sound as a section of the "nest" opened up and someone began to step outside. Both fairies reacted quickly and zipped for the closest coverage.

* * *

If anyone would have asked him a few years ago if he believed in magic, he would have laughed in their face. If they'd continued to inquire if he believed in fairies, he would have called them an idiot. And if someone, probably a different person than the first since his negative attitude towards the questions would have likely drove them off, were to ask about his opinion regarding nature and what humanity's role should be in respect to it, he would have almost certainly shrugged his shoulders and not given the concept a second thought. It was amazing what a summer job could do to change your perspective.

He took the job with the logging company not because he desperately needed the money, but because his father felt it was necessary for his son to learn the value of hard work and responsibility. Granted, he could have gotten a job in the city or even with his father's company. His family owned one of the largest producers of electronic devices with the exception of those from Japan, including personal music players, and their company was scattered across the globe, which made it so easy for them to move from the United States when he was fourteen and his sister, Julie, was five because his parents felt like broadening their horizons. His father could run the company from anywhere and thus they ended up in Sydney, Australia. He hadn't been happy with the decision to uproot his life in L.A., which might even explain his job choice years later. Working with the logging company for the summer would give him some time away from his parents and their desire to control his life.

The time he spent in the rainforest that summer opened his mind beyond his personal corner of it and Zak Young left Fern Gully a changed young man. He returned home to his family and immediately began confronting his father about making changes to the company, making it more environmentally-friendly on every level of production. Happy to see his son take a direction with his life and sensing real purpose in the teenager for once, the man proceeded with the alterations and gained the ability to label his products as the "greenest" electronics on the market.

But Zak wasn't done with his new mission in life. With the help of his two former co-workers who happened to witness Hexxus first hand, he organized a number of protests outside the headquarters for the logging company he worked for temporarily and introduced a number of proposals based on other companies' logging practices that would be less destructive to the environment overall. Not to mention it would allow for the opportunity of future lumber. Of course, they also had to devise a more believable excuse for the missing Leveler, a new and expensive piece of machinery the company had been trying out. Simply telling them it was stuck inside a tree currently would not likely have gone over well.

Continuing onwards with his plans, he proceeded to send numerous letters to various officials to turn Fern Gully and all the surrounding forests into a nature preserve and off-limits to anyone who might cause harm. That goal was taking longer, but he was gathering plenty of support and it was only a matter of time before his friends were safe from humans.

All those half-ignored pieces of advice his father offered about running a business and dealing with people, something Zak considered useless and boring while growing up, now offered more tools to cause change. He could speak the language of money and resources to the corporations in order to open their eyes to new possibilities. He could back that business sense up with his ever-expanding insight into the wonders of nature. This made him a powerful force of change, especially once he gathered enough like-minded individuals and made more connections. And he wasn't even twenty yet.

In the two years since that fateful summer, he'd grown from a bored and aimless teenager who ignored the world beyond his tiny corner where he sought to escape his father's shadow to a driven young man with a true purpose in life that stretched out across the globe. It wasn't enough to just keep logging companies out of Fern Gully. He needed to help protect all the forests and animals from human ignorance and destruction.

He'd finally stepped out of his parents' shadow, for the most part. He was attending college, working to combine a study in environmental science and a possible future in politics. While learning what he needed to cause big-scale changes in the world, he'd moved out to his own house. His two dogs, Lewis and Clark, stayed behind in the apartment since, while he would miss them, he doubted they would enjoy moving out to the country and away from his younger sister after their lives in the city. He'd saved and worked hard for the money at a variety of jobs that were helpful to his end goal in one manner or another and his parents helped out in the end as a gift, providing the funds he required to gain his new residence. Zak quickly converted the property into the most environmentally-friendly house in the area, installing solar panels, using as many recycled materials as possible, and banning pesticides from the house. His new home also had the distinguished honor of being literally the greenest property in the neighborhood. His yard bloomed constantly with the healthy native plants that left the local gardeners asking for his secret, all of them quite certain his lush leaves and bright flowers were the result of a miraculous fertilizer. If they knew the truth, they would never believe him.

His view of the world and his goals in life were not the only thing about him that changed that summer. He didn't pretend to understand magic and he certainly didn't know for certain what exactly transpired inside that cocoon of twisted trees when the elderly fairy named Magi Lune dissolved into a million pieces of light. Those lights sought out the other fairies, briefly changing their green glow to the blue glow that Crysta always possessed, the color difference perhaps as a sign of how much magic that fairy had. His theory was that Magi's actions were meant to give the other fairies the power to survive the attack by Hexxus, to increase their magic for the coming destruction. He would probably never know for certain. All he knew was that one of those lights touched him to, dissolving into him with a warm and comforting sensation. And based off of his guesses and theories, that piece of magic that he absorbed was the cause of one of the two strange occurrences that he'd noticed since he left Fern Gully.

At first, it was rather difficult to recognize. Living in a city separated him from nature, even while he was fighting to protect it. But the initial hint of the change was that the small window plants his mother kept in their apartment began to flourish. Not just grow, _flourish_. The sickly and small leaves that fought through the pollution for a glimpse of the sun and the rare flowers that rarely bloomed long were replaced by strong growing flora that nearly took over the entire window. A bonsai tree his father kept on his desk at home, one that always seemed to be on the verge of drying up and dying if you even looked at it the wrong way suddenly needed to be trimmed regularly in order to keep it at the right size. Zak didn't even want to think about touching the thing after the newest buds were removed, not certain if he would feel that strange dull ache or sharp pain that the fairies had taught him to sense. But everywhere he looked, plants were becoming healthier when he was in their presence regularly. It wasn't that they were growing abnormally fast. They were simply becoming healthier and happier when he was around. It was as if whatever magic the fairies might use to induce growth in the vegetation had rubbed off on him and it now encouraged the plants around him to do their best. Or, more likely, that fragment of fairy magic he'd absorbed was reaching out to the flora near him without his control.

The second change was quite possibly the direct work of Crysta. After all, he first noticed it when she first used magic on him. True, it shrunk him to the size of a fairy, but that was clearly not her intended result. He still remembered her words, including her correction. _Bless your eyes with magic light. I give the gift of fairy sight_. Or during her initial slip of the tongue, _size_. From what he could guess, it was supposed to do more than affect what he saw just with his eyes. It took a little consideration and reflection on possible deeper meanings for the words. He felt that the magic was intended for a greater purpose than just fixing someone's eyesight, though he did think he might be able to see colors a bit more vibrantly than before, or maybe making it possible to see fairies properly. It seemed to also affect his _insight_ to the world of nature, allowing him to experience things he'd been completely blind to before. The magic light and fairy sight, whether or not they were supposed to be the same thing, apparently meant he could now see fairies, sense the pain of plants if he touched them when they were suffering, and he could understand the words of wild animals.

He didn't quite question it when he heard Batty speak. He'd been too overwhelmed and shocked by everything else going on at that moment, like meeting Crysta and discovering his shrunken state. Later, he accepted it as part of being fairy size. But it remained even when he was returned to his normal size. _What was done, now undo. Return you to the form that's true_. He might have changed his size back to what it once was, but he could still hear the words of the animals around him. Birds, reptiles, and mammals were now as clear to his ears as human speech. Oddly, domesticated animals didn't seem to speak a language that he could understand even with the aid of magic. Lewis and Clark still sounded like dogs barking whenever he spent time with his pets, even though they were slowly becoming more like Julie's dogs. Perhaps housecats and pet dogs lost their ability to speak when they were kept by humans over the generations. Regardless, it meant that the wildlife that wandered into his personal garden could be engaged in conversation quite easily and several of the other volunteers and supporters of the environment he dealt with regularly noted his "special way with animals." It certainly made it easy to help out the small mammals and birds that sought shelter near his home.

Yes, the summer that brought him to Fern Gully altered his life in numerous ways that even now he couldn't completely explain. But he wouldn't have changed those few days he spent shrunk to the size of a fairy for anything in the world. He was happy with his life, extreme plant growth and animal speech included. Zak could honestly say that he was satisfied with the way things were going for him.

Summer had rolled around again. He was out of his classes for the moment, which meant he was working on his numerous projects for improving the world. He was working at a small group that reclaimed areas by planting trees, his saplings taking root the quickest, and volunteering at a group that was trying to investigate a number of companies concerning their operating procedures and their effect on the environment. It kept him busy, but certainly not so much that he would forget to fill the birdfeeder.

As the blond young man stepped outside, a bag of seed in his hand, he spotted a pair of bright glows flitting towards a nearby bush. Anyone in the world would have believed it to be a trick of the light or some kind of insect. But he'd seen that type of glow before, two summers ago. He didn't know whether or not to believe what his eyes were telling him, but he knew what he was seeing. He knew what a fairy looked like, even if they moved too fast for him to spot the details.

Smiling to himself, he turned towards the bush the lights vanished into and remarked, "Do you want to come out of there or would you rather hide all day?"

There was a pause before an achingly familiar voice called, "Zak? Is that you?"

"Crysta?"

A blue and green set of lights flew quickly from the shelter of the leaves and stopped right in front of his face. The glow diminished into the small shapes of the black-haired fairy that once shrunk him and the red-haired one that even a blind man could tell was in love with her. Zak couldn't help smiling at the two winged figures even as he wondered what would cause Crysta and Pips to fly so far from their home.

"Well, didn't expect to see you here," the red-haired fairy remarked, looking the human up and down carefully. "Is this your home?"

"Yeah, pretty cool, right?" he smiled before remembering that his friends didn't quite have the hang of the various slang and phrases he commonly used when he wasn't dealing with corporate businessmen. Crysta learned some of them last time they met, even if she didn't quite understand what 'bodacious babe' meant, but Pips had far less exposure to the human and probably was thinking in terms of temperature. Trying to divert the fairies away from the questions about his slang, Zak asked, "So how did you guys find me here?"

"Apparently you're famous around here?" Pips stated. "All the animals are talking about the 'Good Human' that serves as a safe sanctuary and all sorts of wild stories about what you can do."

He laughed a little, "I _have_ received a few guests here at different times. Mostly birds coming by to eat some out of the feeders or to roost in the trees for a night." As he spoke, he headed over to the bird feeders and began to refill them. "But I've also had some of the smaller mammals hide out in the bushes. There was a really polite sugar glider last week. I bet you would have loved her, Crysta. She is one of the sweetest things I ever met." He paused, checking the level of the seed in the container before continuing, "This isn't rainforests out here and there are definitely not as many trees. And those that are around tend to be on someone's property and the place might not be the safest for the wildlife. Guard dogs, bug spray, or just troublesome humans could make the different back yards rather dangerous. At least here they're kind of safe and they have a miniature rainforest to hide in."

It was so cool to see the two of them again. He'd nearly forgotten how pretty Crysta was, even when he saw her as a tiny fairy rather than as the same size as him. He knew he had a crush on her during his time shrunken down and depending on her to change back. She was too beautiful and amazing not to fall for even a little. But he couldn't stay in Fern Gully with her, not if he was going to ever make up for the harm humans were doing and to protect her home. And he couldn't ask her to remain with him in the human world outside the rainforest. Neither option was fair to the other. He still cared for her and probably always would, but they didn't have a future together as anything more than friends.

Pips was also someone that was a pleasant surprise to see again, even if their original meeting started off rather rocky. He helped him take out the Leveler and, under all that jealousy, the red-haired fairy really seemed like a decent guy. Zak might not know him as well as he did Crysta, but they sort of hit it off in the end. And since the blond human would never have a real future with a certain pretty girl, he hoped Pips figured out that he should feel free to win Crysta over himself.

"It _is_ like a small rainforest," the black-haired fairy remarked, flitting towards the closest plant with a smile. "It really feels like one."

"And it probably looks like one from your height," Zak chuckled, setting down the bag and looking around. "So, where's Batty? There's no way he would miss out flying after you guys while telling you this is a bad idea and complaining about how all humans are evil."

The abrupt shift in the fairies' mood instantly told him that something was wrong. Whatever he'd said, it had apparently brought the heart of the matter to the surface. The reason why the small and magical creatures would wander so far from the safety of their home was about to be revealed and it was a grave one. Zak could feel it.

"That's sort of what we're doing here," Crysta began slowly, the winged being sinking down to the ground and forcing the human to crouch to hear properly. "We need your help. _Batty_ needs your help."

**How many of you expected Zak to be the ones they bumped into? Put your hands down. I know it was semi-obvious in retrospect. Probably some of you were already thinking I was going to do that since the beginning. I don't mind. I just hope you aren't disappointed.**

**I gave Zak a background, a family (including a sister), and a description of what he'd been up to since the end of the movie. After all, characters don't just pop out of the ground abruptly and then vanish without a trace. He had a life before Fern Gully and he has a life afterward, even if a lot changed for him during that time. I tried to devise something that made some sense and was at least a little interesting. That includes the guy understanding animals in the movie, even after being returned to normal. I just figured that having all that magic being tossed around him at various points would affect him and I tried to come up with a reasonable way to explain such things. I hope I succeeded in that. **

**The next update might be a while. Like a long while. But I will update eventually. And reviews are always appreciated. Thanks.**


	5. A Clue

**I hope none of you minded the wait too much. I did warn you, as I do all my readers, that the updates will likely be sporadic. But here's another chapter for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!**

Part of him wondered if he truly escaped once. Batty could clearly remember flying blindly through the building, making it to the outside and traveling away from any sounds of humanity, reaching a rainforest, and living there quite happily. He could remember seeing Hexxus attack Fern Gully and be defeated, though he was unconscious during most of the final action. He remembered calm days among the vegetation, observing the fairies encourage growth and flying between the trees without fear. He remembered Crysta, Pips, the obnoxious Beetle Boys, and even the semi-decent and short-time-present Zak. But he also remembered insane scenarios that his brain concocted when a spark leapt between the pieces of wire. Perhaps all those happy memories of freedom and safety were merely the product of his fried mind. After all, he was right back where he started. He was in a cage, doomed to his fate. Hoping for anything better or clinging to memories of better days only made reality more painful to face. It might be easier to believe it to be nothing more than a dream from his broken mind.

Batty stared out as a group of mildly-younger humans filed into the room behind one of the scientists. Not one he remembered, but a new one they must have hired more recently. Regardless, he knew exactly what was going on. It didn't matter if you call them interns or graduate students, these bright and promising young people were the future of Shred Choices. They would be shown the facilities and possibly witness an experiment or two, but they wouldn't learn the full extent of what was occurring until they were truly hired and could be trusted not to blab about things like using poachers to gain specimens.

He watched them for a few moments, making certain they weren't planning to use him for demonstrative purposes. Once he felt mildly confident that he wasn't about to be injected with something toxic, the bat wrapped his wings around himself tightly. The cage didn't offer many opportunities to sleep properly by dangling upside-down, but he spent most of his life with similar restrictions. The mammal could manage to sleep huddled in the corner if he had to.

* * *

_Flying was harder than he thought, but most animals probably weren't trying to learn while blindly smacking into any obstacle they might encounter. Not to mention most of his life was spent inside a building and he possessed no way to tell where he was going. But he didn't have a destination, so directions didn't really matter. As long as it was away from humans, he couldn't care less. Though he wouldn't say wouldn't say "no" to a direction with fewer obstacles like trees to run into._

_It actually took him a while to locate trees. Escaping the building merely brought him to a city or a town of some sort. The sounds certainly matched those the television produced regarding urban environments. And the number of human voices present further supported that theory. Every time he heard one, the bat sharply switched directions to the point where he might very easily be going in circles. But soon the unnatural sounds died away and the impacts with man-made objects were replaced exclusively by trees. Not that he knew what they were initially. It took him a few hits to even recognize them._

"_I can't see the forest for the trees," he muttered before hitting another one._

_He lost track of time as he flapped blindly, knocking himself unconscious a few times with his less graceful collisions and occasionally getting completely turned around by strange hallucinations that he often provoked by causing an electric shock from the exposed wire. A day or two might have passed since his escape, at least judging by his growing hunger. Locating food was another challenge since he couldn't see his surroundings and he'd always been fed in the past by humans. Granted, sometimes the "food" included another chemical cocktail experiment, but at least the blind and insane mammal could always find it. And even the calls of other animals in the area, some sounding friendly and others less so, couldn't convince him to stop and ask for help regarding his hunger. The nature programs on television taught him plenty about predators and his less-lucid moments tended to be off-putting to more helpful creatures._

_A less-insane part of his mind would keep trying to point out that he couldn't fly forever without stopping to eat and only sleeping when knocked out by a crash. That his wings, unused to the act of flying, were growing wearier by the minute. That he was sore from continuing to smash into tree trunks and branches and that he was lucky not to have broken anything yet. That he would die of exhaustion or hunger if he didn't figure out another plan. But another crash would always blank out his mind by completing the circuit of the exposed wire and he would forget temporarily. Besides, death was a long-time companion to the lab animal and the fear of humans greatly out-weighed that of dying. Returning to Shrewd Choices would be worse than merely dying._

_Finally, he did begin slowing his desperate flight through the humid and warm rainforest. The lack of signs of humanity for hours began to soothe his nerves. The occasional hallucination made it difficult at times for the blind bat to be certain, but he was beginning to feel safe from them. The smell of ripe berries, something he barely recognized without the over-powering scent of disinfectant trying to mask it, led him to a small meal and a relatively safe perch for him to catch his breath. As he rested, his ears picked up tidbits of conversation from the unseen inhabitants of the forest, allowing him to infer that he was heading for a location called Mount Warning._

"_So is it called 'Warning' because it's dangerous and we need to be warned about it," pondered Batty to himself, "or because it's somewhere safe and you'll have plenty of warning about trouble?" Unable to decide, he shook his head, "As long as I don't have to bump into any humans, I'll be happy."_

* * *

Zak listened carefully to the fairies, perched on the edge of the bird bath, explain the events that led them to his home. Through the entire description, he was struggling not to interrupt except for the most confusing parts. Trying to translate in his head something understandable from the descriptions of certain human inventions and actions by individuals with no concept of technology or jobs could challenge even the best minds. Metal cages, trucks, and even a poacher were fairly new ideas for them. At least the Leveler gave them a starting point for their descriptions and referring to a net as a non-sticky spider web was easy enough to understand. But he almost wished that he couldn't understand what they were telling him.

He _liked_ Batty. Yes, the dude possessed a real dislike for humanity and made certain that Zak knew it. But even though he tried to convince a jumbo lizard to eat the shrunken human, he also saved him when Hexxus and the Leveler almost killed him. Not to mention he was a decent bat when he wasn't advocating against the evils of humanity. Zak was rather happy to see him survive the attack on Fern Gully. But now…

The best case scenario, and also the least likely one, would be for the poacher to sell him to a zoo or something. Yes, Batty would be miserable living with humans, but at least he'd be alive. Zak's research and experience at protecting the environment was teaching him of some of the less kind fates that awaited animals captured by poachers. Time was of the essence if they wanted to save Batty. Of course, that was assuming that it wasn't too late already.

"Okay, was there any writing on the truck or anything?" he asked once Crysta and Pips finished talking.

"Yes," the black-haired fairy answered excitedly. "The 'cages' did. I remember seeing it. Batty even mentioned it when I showed him."

"Great, what did it say?"

"It didn't say anything," Pips responded, staring up at the blond young man like he was crazy. "They don't seem to be able to talk."

"I don't mean what it _literally_ said. I mean, what did the writing…," he trailed off. "Neither of you can read, can you?" When both fairies shook their heads with vaguely-confused expressions, Zak sighed, "Well, there goes that lead."

"Does that mean you can't help us?" asked Crysta, using a familiar tone of voice.

It was the exact same tone that made it nearly impossible for him to imagine telling her that humans were the ones destroying the forest back when they first met. He didn't personally care about the trees or the rainforest back then, but he couldn't even consider letting down the beautiful and unbelievable girl with wings he'd just met. When she used that tone of voice with him and stared at him with her big expressive eyes, he couldn't even consider letting her down. Back then, he'd lied flat out to her in response to her voice and her expression. He told her that the Leveler was a monster that humans were combating with the use of spray paint to trap it. He told her that he would never have anything to do with something that "ate" trees like that. He told her anything he could in order to keep her happy and ensure that she liked him. Not to mention he needed to stay on her good side at the time if he wanted to ever regain his real size.

It was only afterwards that he truly started to see how much destruction humanity was causing and to honestly mean that he didn't want to harm the trees. But he was there yet when he first faced Crysta's expressive voice and her powerful gaze as she asked. He didn't understand when she first tried to learn how he was connected to the Leveler, so he lied to avoid hearing her upset. Perhaps not his smartest plan in history considering that it led to her being furious about his lies later, but that was back when he was ignorant and just plain stupid at times.

But he regained her trust and friendship after the truth came out, along with at least ending up on better terms with Pips. That meant he couldn't risk lying to her again, even if she was using the same tone of voice and expression on him as before. It was mildly surprising to learn, however, that the look on her face was just as effective when she was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand as it was when they were the same size.

However, just because he couldn't simply lie and tell Crysta exactly what she wanted to hear, he also couldn't destroy her hope either. He couldn't tell her how slim the chances of just happening to find where Batty was without any real clues were. He couldn't point out that there were untold numbers of places he could've ended up and that wasn't including locations outside this country. He might be on a boat or a plane to another continent right at this moment.

And that was assuming that he was even alive at this moment. If the poachers were collecting animals to sell as pets, to hand over to private zoos, or for some similar purpose, then the flying mammal was even worse off than what first occurred to Zak. Those types of people would want animals in perfect condition that looked healthy and picturesque so that the customers would buy them. A crazy bat with a wire stuck in the side of his head would fall under the category of "damaged goods," something that he learned plenty of thanks to his father's business. Even the most careful companies would occasionally have few individual products that were either faulty upon production or were damaged during shipping. These losses were expected and even predicted during the projections concerning profit. And you might be able to recycle parts or something, but most of the time these items were a lost cause that would be disposed of. Whether that would mean releasing Batty back into wild or using him for other purposes, like taxidermy, Zak didn't know.

On the other hand, the type of customers that wouldn't mind a damaged bat with a tendency to pick up different stations with his messed up mind was even worse to consider. The people who wouldn't care what condition their purchased wildlife was in probably weren't concerned with maintaining the health of the animal.

No matter how he thought about it, Zak knew that the possibility of finding Batty alive in time was very small. Without clues, it was nearly impossible. But he couldn't tell Crysta and Pips that. They flew all the way to his house because they were going to take even the slim chance of finding help rather than give up. And if there was even the slightest possibility that they could find Batty, the blond young man knew he would have to take it too.

"I'll help," he responded finally. "I don't know where to look yet or how we'll find him, but I'll do everything I can. Don't worry." When the black-haired fairy rewarded his words with a bright smile and even Pips gave a slight nod, Zak added, "Follow me into the house. I'll start making some calls."

* * *

A particularly loud screech of terror woke Batty, sending him instantly into panic mode. It was a nightmarish sound, which was fitting since this was a place from his nightmares. He'd almost forgotten how to sleep when living in a biology lab. Screams and crying were part of the general background noise, something he'd grown less used to after his time in the rainforest. The sounds were different than those he heard in Fern Gully. And they sounded louder thanks to being in a confined space.

Pressing his ears down against his head, the fruit bat peered out of his cage to see if there was a particular reason why someone was extra afraid at the moment. A quick glimpse sent him huddling near the back of his metal container again.

The tour with the students wasn't quite complete apparently. It would seem they decided on having a demonstration after all. The scream came courtesy of a rather skinny clump of fur being pulled out of his cage and carried over to the examination table. Batty couldn't even identify the species before he was hiding near the back of the cage. He didn't want to see who or what was being experimented on. He didn't want to see what was happening. He just wanted to avoid being the encore performance.

"I'm not here. Just ignore the crazy bat in the cage," he muttered under his breath. "There's nothing interesting over here. Just forget about me. Plenty of other things to do besides dragging me out for testing too."

It wasn't that he didn't pity the poor soul who was about to suffer. It was just a little too familiar for his comfort and he wanted more than anything else to avoid what was coming for as long as possible. The longer it took for the humans to start trying to play mad scientist with him, the better.

On the other hand, waiting for them to strike might actually be worse. He knew it was coming and that there was no escaping the fact that needles and scalpels were in his future. It was inevitable. It might be easier to just get it over with.

Still, he wasn't quite ready to just jump right into another vivisection. If the choice was horrifying dread and terror each time a human walked by in case his tiny delay was over and going ahead with the actual suffering, Batty was still willing to accept the mortal terror for a while longer.

"Gather around, grad students," the human remarked casually. "You're in for a real treat. We've been developing a new line of health care products and we're just about to start testing our anti-acne cream. To ensure that it is perfectly safe for our customers, we need to work on some worst case scenarios with our test subjects. That includes using a far higher dosage than what is required. After all, people never seem to read the labels correctly anyway."

Batty didn't even need to see the scientist to know he was wearing a slight smirk on his face as he said that line. The polite chuckles at the man's attempted joke were all the evidence he needed to know that. Ears pressed tightly against his head, eyes squeezed shut, and pressed against the back of his cage, the small mammal did his best to ignore what was happening in the room. As the squeals of panic from the current test subject grew louder, he tried to cover his ears further with his wings, but he accidentally brushed against—

_-Bzzt-_

"Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to serve as back-up as I obtain the microfilm from the safe," he announced solemnly before leaping into action.

Dodging the laser beams was easy. He quickly performed that feat without setting off a single alarm. It was almost as if there weren't any there.

Upon completely that particular set of obstacles, he was horrified to discover that he'd somehow managed to end up trapped. There were walls on all sides and the safe was nowhere in sight. There was only one explanation. The information from their spies must have been false and it was all a trap to capture one of their best agents. Any second now, the walls would come together and crush them to death.

"Don't worry, I've escaped hundreds of death traps before," he assured his partner, who seemed to be mysteriously quiet during their mission. "I can handle this."

Intending to employ the classic explosive bubble gum, something slammed into one of the walls repeated.

"Quiet down in there," a voice ordered, barely noticeable above the banging. "Your flapping about is distracting."

Before he could yell at the individual for interrupting an important mission with world-wide consequences… the noise managed to pull Batty out of the shock-induced hallucination. Reality reasserted itself. He wasn't some sort of secret agent. He was a trapped lab animal.

And then he noticed the source of the voice and the one who was banging on the front of his cage. The scientist was glaring at him slightly; his current test subject firmly gripped in his other hand. Apparently Batty's attempts to avoid attention and to ignore everything around him ended up accidentally capturing the human's attention. It was official: he possessed the worst luck in the world.

"Don't mind me," he whimpered quietly. "I'll be quiet now. You won't hear another peep from me. Not a squeak. Not a squawk. You won't even hear a yelp unless you come near me with a needle. You might hear some begging though. Or a little bribery. Would that work? I'll give you anything you won't if you let me go. Gold. Jewels. A nice bridge in Brooklyn. What do you say?"

Apparently satisfied that the bat wasn't going to continue to flap around the cage at random, the scientist walked over to a different cage and shoved his test subject in. It would seem the hallucination lasted long enough for the human to finish whatever he was doing with the unidentified mammal, who was a lot quieter now.

"Well, that completes that demonstration," the man remarked to his audience, heading towards the door. "Next, I'll show you where we record the data from our tests and how we calculate the necessary adjustments."

* * *

Upon reflection, Zak decided that inviting the fairies inside was not his smartest idea. Even with the threat to Batty's life hanging over them, the natural curiosity of Crysta and Pips fascination with technology thanks to his introduction to the stereo, the blond young man spent several minutes trying to give a brief explanation about some of the odder devices in his combination kitchen/living room. It was either tell them these things or risk them setting themselves on fire with the stove when they investigated on their own.

He couldn't blame them for being overwhelmed and curious about "human magic" and technology in general. Considering their only past experience with these things was the stereo and the Leveler, things like the lamp and faucet had to be impressive. Zak could remember some his own reactions to the glowing mushrooms growing on the side of a tree or the water-filled cave with a ceiling that glittered like stars. Being immerse in a whole new world was almost guaranteed to shove all other thoughts out of your head for a time. Eventually the novelty would wear off and they would be back to focusing on the emergency, but Zak could let them explore a little first.

Pulling out a phone book, the young man began to consider different ways he could try and narrow their search. He knew a few people who might have some ideas about where poachers might be moving animals. Anyone involved in protecting the environment tended to keep an ear out for rumors like that.

"What's this?" asked Pips abruptly, yanking Zak's attention towards a rectangular object.

Smiling slightly, he answered, "That's the television. It's a source of information and entertainment. But mostly entertainment. It's sort of like the stereo, but better."

"It doesn't look better," muttered the red-haired fairy, floating a little closer to it. "How does it work?"

"You turn it on and watch the screen." When both Pips and Crysta, who'd been inspecting one of the window plants that was now boasting a few more flowers, stared at him blankly, Zak picked up the remote and said, "Just watch."

When he hit the "on" button, both of the fairies flinched and flew back a short distance in surprise when a commercial about peanut butter appeared on screen. A moment later, they'd recovered enough to start investigating the colorful image and sounds emerging from the box. Pips appeared utterly entranced by the device, but even Crysta seemed curious by the piece of technology.

"Pretty cool, right? This station tends to have some fairly rad shows later in the evening, but I'm not above a little channel surfing when I'm bored."

"What?" asked the black-haired fairy, turning to look at him in confusion.

Shaking his head, Zak responded, "Never mind. Don't worry about it. Just enjoy it."

Apparently accepting his advice, she turned back towards the television set. Pips didn't even respond the slang in the first place. The red-haired fairy was completely absorbed in watching the traffic report, even if he'd undoubtedly had no idea what traffic was. All that apparently mattered to him was the television itself. The screen was hypnotizing to him.

"Great, I've invented the fairy couch potato," Zak muttered under his breath.

After a second of consideration, he switched the station to a nature channel. At least it should be less confusing to his friends than the other programming. If it kept them distracted while he made a few inquiries about where Batty might be, he wouldn't mind too much.

He started contemplating his options. He could try Eliza. She was practically an expert in locating someone involved in animal trafficking. Some of her friends considered her talents at it legendary. On the other hand, the poachers were beginning to catch on and were getting better at avoiding her notice. Gordon, on the other hand, was actually involved in black-market stuff in his younger days. The grizzled old man loved to tell stories to some of the younger volunteers of his past, mostly as a warning not to be like him. He still possessed a few connections he might be able to use. But that would only work if the poachers were trying to sell to the highest bidder rather than having a specific buyer in mind. Of course, Eoin's cousin kept track of most of the ships moving in and out of the country. They might be able to figure out if a shipment of animals were being transported. And Eoin owed him a favor for that one time…

"Zak!" yelled Crysta abruptly, yanking him out of his thoughts. "Look at this. I know this."

"What?" he asked, glancing up at where the television was showing a commercial about a kitchen cleaning product.

"That," she urged, flying closer to the screen. "The blue shape. I've seen it before. It was on the 'cages.' Batty called them a logo."

"Wait, the cages had a logo on them with the writing?" He hurried over to the television, where both Crysta and Pips were now pointing. "Are you sure that's the right one?"

"Yes, I remember it," she nodded right before the commercial ended and the program about chimpanzees resumed. "Do you know what it means? Do you recognize it?"

"Will it help us find Batty?" asked Pips.

He did know the symbol. The company produced just about any type of household item you might need, which meant the logo and name could be seen everywhere. He also knew that there were plenty of vicious rumors concerning the safety of their products and even a few dark whispers about their testing standards. They denied everything, but some people wondered how many corners they were cutting in order to have their items on the shelves so quickly after testing and what was the limits they would do to make a profit.

Environmentalists knew them for a different reason. The chemicals in plenty of their products were of questionable safety and were likely to have nasty side effects on both nature and even some of the consumers. The company would deny these claims, and maybe even bribed the occasional person to look the other way, but several individuals felt that all it would take would be one last major infringement for the whole corporation to come crumbling apart. And the more paranoid people thought that discovering such an infringement might just be on the horizon if their theory about how the company saved time and money with their testing procedure was true.

Zak yanked open the phone book and started turning the pages frantically. There was no real reason to assume the worst yet. It was possible that the poachers merely bought their cages from the company rather than having any real connection to them. But if the conspiracy theory was true, it would make sense for the poachers to be carrying their products. And the phone book might not prove one way or another if it was true, but it could make the wild idea more plausible…

He finally stopped and looked at the page. There was the name, the phone number, and the address. He pulled out a map from one of his junk drawers and opened it up to confirm the location. The idea was beginning to look more and more possible. And that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Zak, what is it?" asked Crysta, a concerned look on her face.

"That logo is for a company called Shrewd Choices," he explained slowly and carefully, not yet willing to confirm or deny the possibility. "There are… stories about them. Not all of them good. I just checked their address and they have a testing lab not too far from rainforest and Mount Warning is. Definitely within a reasonable driving distance for a poacher who wants to avoid too much attention by staying on back roads as much as possible. I don't know for certain yet, I'll have to check out a few more things first before I can know either way, but that might be where Batty and the other animals are."

"How bad is that?" Pips asked, flying down to peer at the map curiously.

"It depends on how many of those stories are true," he stated. "But if he _is_ there, it is almost certainly not somewhere he'll want to be."

* * *

Batty refused to move from his corner of the cage. He didn't want to accidentally cause another hallucination, even if being trapped in his fried-brain was preferable at the moment. The poor test subject for the anti-acne cream was starting to cry a little louder and even covering his ears wasn't quite enough. He'd forgotten how loud someone could be during their first procedure. He half-way recalled the skinny mammal arriving with him, though the bat wasn't paying the best attention at the time due to pure panic. That meant it was the poor fellow's first experiment. And it didn't sound like it was a particularly fun one.

The skinny guy, just a few cages away, started shrieking earlier about how his skin was burning from the stuff they used. The best advice that Batty was able to offer at that point was not to scratch at it, but the frightened and in pain test subject didn't seem to notice. By the time the yelling about his fur falling out started, the bat was starting to try and block out the sounds. This particular mammal possessed quite the set of lungs on him. Most of the animals in Batty's experience couldn't keep up this volume for this length of time.

When the test subject started crying about his skin bubbling, the fruit bat just gave up trying to block it out. If the product was causing blisters, it was highly unlikely that the noise would stop anytime soon. The poor animal was hurt, panicked, and new to the _glamorous_ life of a lab experiment. He was going to be upset for quite a while and nothing was going to distract him from making everyone else aware of his misery.

Taking a deep breath, Batty tried to focus on something else. _Anything_ else. Dreams. Reality. Some confusing mixture of both. He needed something to keep his mind busy so he didn't have to think about how it was only a matter of time before he was the one freaking out about his fur falling out or his skin bubbling.

Flying. He liked flying, even if he ended up crashing most of the time. Flying was something that could only be enjoyed outside of a cage. Flying could only be accomplished far away from labs and needles and experiments. You needed space in order to fly. You needed freedom and safety.

Memories, solid and real memories of actual events that his mind did not just craft due to electrocution, fluttered through his head. Flying through the rainforest. Flying after Crysta as she explored beyond the safety of Fern Gully. Flying her and the admittedly half-decent Zak out of danger from the Leveler. Flying after two racing fairies, the pair just a pair of glowing lights. Flying without even the slightest idea of where he was going and not caring. It might be easier to pretend it was all a dream and to give up even the slightest hint of hope that it was real, there was no way that he could deny that he would be able to imagine flight unless he actually experienced at least once. The only way he could remember flying would be if he was actually free to fly and that meant those memories were of real events.

He sank deeper into his memories of flying, of the wind beneath his wings and the humidity of the rainforest as he moved through the air. He ignored the crashes and focused solely on the sensation of flight itself. These were from a better time and place that was far away from here. Far away from the screaming, the fear, the pain, and the humans. They were memories of everything he ever wanted out of his life, but could never hope to have.

He was remembering so that he could forget. He latched onto those memories, using them to block out reality for just a little while. Just trying to pretend that he was still far away from this place and back somewhere that he could be happy.

He was focusing so strongly on those memories that it took him quite some time to realize that the shrieking stopped and it was a little too quiet in that direction now.

**Well, I hope that this chapter was everything that you wanted it to be. Our heroes have at least an idea of where to look, but Batty definitely needs to get out of there before he loses what's left of his sanity. Or ends up as the next test subject.**

**Let me know what you think. I love feedback. Thanks.**


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